Police officers

Detailed Occupation

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2023 Workforce
856k
Average Age
40.1
Average Salary
$82,872
Average Male Salary
$84,831
Average Female Salary
$71,269

About

Police officers are most often employed by the Justice, public order, & safety activities industry. The average yearly wage for Police officers was $82,872 in 2023.

Photo by Highway Patrol Images
Service OccupationsProtective service occupations

Employment

Employment and salary information for the Police officers workforce. Police officers workforce in 2023 was 856,055 people, of which 14.4% were women and 85.6% were men. Police officers are paid most in Butte County--Chico City PUMA, CA but are relatively concentrated in South Texas Development Council-Webb County (North & East)-Laredo City (Outer) PUMA, TX.

Employment Over Time

Metric
Grouping
732,400
Male Workforce
± 21k
123,655
Female Workforce
± 8.63k

The Police officers workforce in 2023 was 856,055 people (14.4% women and 85.6% men). This implies an average annual growth of 17.9% between 2014 (725,944) and 2023 (856,055).

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Employment by Location

Level
Metric

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by average wage for Police officers.

During 2023, the states that concentrated the best average annual wage were California ($110,728), Massachusetts ($109,650), and New Jersey ($105,343).

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Yearly Wage Ranking

$82,872
AVERAGE WAGE
#138 in the ranking (2023)
$67,727
NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE
For all occupations across the US

In 2023, Police officers earned an average of $82,872, $15,145 more than the average national salary of $67,727

The graph shows the ranking of Police officers in relation to all Detailed Occupation in 2023.

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Wage Distribution

Gender
0.291
WAGE GINI

In 2023, Police officers had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.291, which is lower than the national average of 0.476. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly for Police officers (shown in red) than for the overall labor force (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Police officers compared to the entire workforce in the country.

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Industry

Information on the industries that employ Police officers and on wages for those in the field. Justice, public order, & safety activities is the industry that employs the most Police officers, both by share and by number, though the highest paid industry for Police officers, by average wage, is Postal Service ($104,303).

Occupations by Industries

Metric
Value
856k
2023 Workforce
± 22,652
0.594%
1 YEAR GROWTH
± 3.73%

This graphic shows the share of Police officers employed by various industries. Justice, public order, & safety activities employs the largest share of Police officers at 89.8%, followed by uninformed with 6.49% and Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges with 2.06%.

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Diversity

Demographic information on Police officers in the US. The workforce of Police officers in 2023 was 856,055 people, with 14.4% woman, and 85.6% men. The average age of male Police officers in the workforce is 40.4 and of female Police officers is 38.7, and the most common race/ethnicity for Police officers is White.

Gender and Age

Metric

The workforce of Police officers in 2023 was 856,055 people, with 14.4% woman, and 85.6% men.

The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 30 to 34 years (131,110 people), 25 to 29 years (124,611  people), and 35 to 39 years (121,633 people). Among them they concentrated 44.1% of the total workforce.

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Ethnicity

Gender

In 2023, 17.6% of Police officers workers were Hispanic and 82.4% non-Hispanic.

The treemap shows the distribution of Hispanic workers according to their origin, highlighting Mexican (51.5%), Puerto Rican (21.4)%, and Dominican (5.26)%

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Races

In 2023, 68.6% of the Police officers workforce were White, of which 11.7% were women and 88.3% men. Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Black (13.7%) and Two or More Races (9.97%).

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Education & Skills

Data on higher education choices for Police officers from The Department of Education and Census Bureau. The most common major for Police officers is Protective Services but the most specialized major according to RCA in 2023 were Protective Services.

Majors

ACS PUMS data only shows the major for bachelor's degrees. However, we can filter the data based on highest degree obtained.
Type of Majors
Degree

The most common majors achieved by Police officers in 2023 (counting all academic degrees) were Protective Services (134,712 people), Business (48,799 people), and Social Sciences (38,244 people).

You can review this information for different academic grades by modifying the option selected in the selector above.

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Education Levels

Metric

The main educational levels achieved by the Police officers workers were Bachelors Degree (278,020 people), Some college (248,803 people), and Associates Degree (144,572 people).

The graphic shows the Police officers workforce by gender and educational level.

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