Police & Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The national median wage for police & sheriff's patrol officers is $74,910 across 665K jobs. After cost of living, San Francisco goes furthest at $116,596, and 41 of 78 metros beat the national median once prices are counted.
What the job pays, metro to metro
Each line runs from the lowest metro to the highest. The mark is the national median.
BLS OES, latest release
78 metro areas tracked
Best value: top metros by cost-adjusted wage
Wages adjusted for local cost of living. A longer blue bar means the salary goes further there.
All metro areas
Sorted by cost-adjusted wage. Tap a column head to re-sort; metro names link to the city page where we track one.
| # | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA | CA | $131,753 | $116,596 | 7,079 | 15.7 |
| 2 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | NY | $115,540 | $106,981 | 15,018 | 12.0 |
| 3 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | CA | $114,047 | $100,927 | 13,703 | 13.7 |
| 4 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | IL | $93,522 | $94,467 | 7,853 | 9.8 |
| 5 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | VA | $90,344 | $89,450 | 8,642 | 14.4 |
| 6 | Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH | MA | $93,319 | $86,406 | 6,447 | 12.9 |
| 7 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | WA | $92,809 | $85,146 | 4,341 | 10.8 |
| 8 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | MN | $83,317 | $85,017 | 4,961 | 14.2 |
| 9 | Raleigh-Cary, NC | NC | $78,954 | $83,994 | 1,978 | 13.2 |
| 10 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | CO | $84,312 | $83,477 | 3,443 | 11.5 |
| 11 | Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | CT | $86,666 | $83,333 | 876 | 11.7 |
| 12 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | TX | $80,168 | $82,647 | 11,106 | 17.1 |
| 13 | Anchorage, AK | AK | $84,260 | $82,608 | 853 | 17.1 |
| 14 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | MI | $77,134 | $82,057 | 5,901 | 14.8 |
| 15 | Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | TN | $76,260 | $82,000 | 2,878 | 14.4 |
| 16 | St. Louis, MO-IL | MO | $74,528 | $81,009 | 3,518 | 14.1 |
| 17 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | PA | $79,384 | $81,004 | 6,896 | 12.5 |
| 18 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN | IN | $74,028 | $80,465 | 3,039 | 15.2 |
| 19 | Madison, WI | WI | $74,757 | $80,384 | 778 | 10.4 |
| 20 | Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX | TX | $77,935 | $80,345 | 3,977 | 15.9 |
| 21 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA | GA | $77,712 | $80,115 | 6,229 | 11.3 |
| 22 | Cleveland-Elyria, OH | OH | $73,676 | $80,083 | 2,244 | 15.0 |
| 23 | Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT | CT | $82,548 | $79,373 | 1,651 | 16.5 |
| 24 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | TX | $76,771 | $79,145 | 11,625 | 16.6 |
| 25 | New Orleans-Metairie, LA | LA | $69,420 | $78,886 | 1,205 | 12.1 |
| 26 | Kansas City, MO-KS | MO | $71,974 | $78,233 | 2,511 | 12.6 |
| 27 | Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ | DE | $77,105 | $77,884 | 751 | 15.0 |
| 28 | Salt Lake City, UT | UT | $73,806 | $77,691 | 2,324 | 15.5 |
| 29 | Columbus, OH | OH | $71,404 | $77,613 | 1,879 | 9.4 |
| 30 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | CA | $87,591 | $77,514 | 4,931 | 16.4 |
| 31 | Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | WI | $72,065 | $77,489 | 1,545 | 10.3 |
| 32 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | MD | $79,675 | $76,611 | 3,288 | 13.2 |
| 33 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | NC | $71,850 | $76,436 | 3,974 | 15.9 |
| 34 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | OH | $70,168 | $76,270 | 3,191 | 16.0 |
| 35 | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV | NV | $73,910 | $76,196 | 2,803 | 14.0 |
| 36 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | SC | $70,545 | $75,855 | 903 | 12.0 |
| 37 | Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | KY | $68,267 | $75,852 | 2,098 | 14.0 |
| 38 | Oklahoma City, OK | OK | $66,613 | $75,697 | 2,002 | 13.3 |
| 39 | Pittsburgh, PA | PA | $73,995 | $75,505 | 2,584 | 12.9 |
| 40 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | OR | $79,211 | $75,439 | 2,435 | 9.7 |
| 41 | Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA | NE | $67,518 | $75,020 | 1,339 | 13.4 |
| 42 | Albuquerque, NM | NM | $66,787 | $74,208 | 1,272 | 12.7 |
| 43 | Boise City, ID | ID | $67,495 | $74,170 | 1,257 | 16.8 |
| 44 | Manchester-Nashua, NH | NH | $77,767 | $74,064 | 722 | 14.4 |
| 45 | Baton Rouge, LA | LA | $65,108 | $73,986 | 1,151 | 15.3 |
| 46 | Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | IA | $65,711 | $73,833 | 1,049 | 14.0 |
| 47 | Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | RI | $74,329 | $73,593 | 2,369 | 15.8 |
| 48 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | AZ | $74,253 | $73,518 | 5,499 | 12.2 |
| 49 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | FL | $75,560 | $73,359 | 5,454 | 9.9 |
| 50 | Honolulu, HI | HI | $79,507 | $72,942 | 1,025 | 13.7 |
| 51 | Columbia, SC | SC | $67,122 | $72,174 | 804 | 10.7 |
| 52 | Fargo, ND-MN | ND | $64,100 | $72,022 | 542 | 13.6 |
| 53 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | CA | $81,370 | $72,009 | 3,151 | 15.8 |
| 54 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | TX | $69,552 | $71,703 | 3,867 | 15.5 |
| 55 | Burlington-South Burlington, VT | VT | $68,990 | $71,124 | 351 | 14.0 |
| 56 | Memphis, TN-MS-AR | TN | $65,953 | $70,917 | 1,706 | 17.1 |
| 57 | Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR | AR | $61,438 | $70,618 | 1,142 | 15.2 |
| 58 | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | AL | $63,520 | $70,578 | 1,718 | 17.2 |
| 59 | Sioux Falls, SD | SD | $61,759 | $70,181 | 448 | 11.2 |
| 60 | Richmond, VA | VA | $70,575 | $69,876 | 1,765 | 11.8 |
| 61 | Tulsa, OK | OK | $61,476 | $69,859 | 1,085 | 10.8 |
| 62 | Grand Rapids-Kentwood, MI | MI | $64,978 | $69,126 | 1,082 | 10.8 |
| 63 | Billings, MT | MT | $61,844 | $68,716 | 234 | 9.4 |
| 64 | Knoxville, TN | TN | $63,764 | $68,563 | 1,096 | 11.0 |
| 65 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | FL | $70,336 | $68,287 | 3,848 | 12.8 |
| 66 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | FL | $70,212 | $68,167 | 3,977 | 15.9 |
| 67 | Portland-South Portland, ME | ME | $66,031 | $68,073 | 374 | 9.3 |
| 68 | Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | VA | $68,367 | $67,690 | 1,527 | 10.2 |
| 69 | Wichita, KS | KS | $60,518 | $67,242 | 585 | 11.7 |
| 70 | Cheyenne, WY | WY | $60,721 | $66,726 | 223 | 14.9 |
| 71 | Jackson, MS | MS | $56,812 | $65,301 | 672 | 13.4 |
| 72 | Rochester, NY | NY | $70,426 | $65,209 | 936 | 9.4 |
| 73 | Tucson, AZ | AZ | $65,029 | $64,385 | 1,053 | 10.5 |
| 74 | El Paso, TX | TX | $62,365 | $64,294 | 1,213 | 16.2 |
| 75 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | NY | $69,144 | $64,022 | 1,643 | 16.4 |
| 76 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | CA | $72,170 | $63,867 | 6,523 | 16.3 |
| 77 | Jacksonville, FL | FL | $65,574 | $63,664 | 2,270 | 15.1 |
| 78 | Charleston, WV | WV | $56,543 | $62,826 | 304 | 12.2 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for Police & Sheriff's Patrol Officers?
The national median annual wage for police & sheriff's patrol officers is $74,910, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) data.
Where do police & sheriff's patrol officers earn the most after adjusting for cost of living?
After adjusting for local cost of living, the top-paying metro areas for police & sheriff's patrol officers are San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA ($116,596), New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA ($106,981), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ($100,927).
How many metro areas have data for police & sheriff's patrol officers?
We show wage and employment estimates for police & sheriff's patrol officers across 78 metro areas in the United States. The national median wage is the latest BLS OES figure; individual metro values are modeled from it using local cost of living and regional labor-market patterns rather than taken from the published metro-level OES tables.