After reading this post at OTB I realized that it might be prudent for some people to revise their thinking about police officers. Let me throw out a few factoids and then I’ll analyze them a bit.
The median household income in Chicago for a family of four is $45,505. The starting salary for a Chicago police officer is $43,104 and rises to $55,723 after one year, $58,896 after 18 months. The average salary for a Chicago police officer is around $75,385. I’ve got a post around here somewhere that lists the income quintiles for the U. S. Applicants for the Chicago police force must have four years of military duty, 1 year of active military duty and an associates degree, or a college degree. Many Chicago suburbs require a four-year college degree for their police officers.
All of this means that a Chicago police officer starts in the middle income quintile and that many, many Chicago police officers are in the fourth or fifth income quintiles. A lot of police officers have at least some college education and many have degrees.
BTW the head of the Chicago Police Department makes around a half million dollars a year. They had to give him two jobs each of which paid six figures to do it but that’s a story for another day.
A handful of major metro areas have truly professional police forces and pay them accordingly. Additionally, overtime can be quite generous, allowing patrol officers and beat detectives to haul in more than their supervisors.
Nationally, however, it appears that the median is in the $37000-$48000 range. That’s still pretty decent money but well below what a college professor makes.
Hmm. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics it’s a little higher than that, the middle 50% earning from $35,600 and $59,880 with a median of $47,190 in local government.
Starting salary for a police officer in Washington, DC: $48, 715
Starting salary for a police officer in Alexandria, VA: $43,167
BLS for postsecondary eduction: The middle 50 percent earned between $39,610 and $80,390.
The median at American University (DC): $93,850.
At George Mason (Fairfax, VA): $92,000
For the record, I ate lunch at a restaurant today next to a table with a state trooper at it.
Illinois State Trooper starting salary: $49,632 with high benefits, retirement age of 60.
Good food. Didn’t notice any professors, or at least no Che Guevara t-shirts.