Police officers

Detailed Occupation

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2024 Workforce
864k
Average Age
40.2
Average Salary
$84,811
Average Male Salary
$86,937
Average Female Salary
$72,184

About

Police officers are most often employed by the Justice, public order, & safety activities industry. The average yearly wage for Police officers was $84,811 in 2024.

Photo by Highway Patrol Images
Service OccupationsProtective service occupations

Employment

Employment and salary information for the Police officers workforce. Police officers workforce in 2024 was 864,102 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
739,598
Male Workforce
± 21.1k
124,504
Female Workforce
± 8.66k

The Police officers workforce in 2024 was 864,102 people (14.4% women and 85.6% men). This implies an average annual growth of 19% between 2014 (725,944) and 2024 (864,102).

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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 2024, the states that concentrated the best average annual wage were California ($113,067), Massachusetts ($109,341), and New Jersey ($107,406).

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Yearly Wage Ranking

$84,811
AVERAGE WAGE
#111 in the ranking (2014)
$69,878
NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE
For all occupations across the US

In 2024, Police officers earned an average of $84,811, $14,934 more than the average national salary of $69,878

The graph shows the ranking of Police officers in relation to all Detailed Occupation in 2014.

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Wage Distribution

Gender
0.292
WAGE GINI

In 2024, Police officers had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.292, which is lower than the national average of 0.474. 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 Banking & related activities ($126,397).

Occupations by Industries

Metric
Value
864k
2024 Workforce
± 22,758
0.94%
1 YEAR GROWTH
± 3.7%

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 92.7%, followed by National security & international affairs with 3.43% and Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges with 2.08%.

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Diversity

Demographic information on Police officers in the US. The workforce of Police officers in 2024 was 864,102 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 38.6, and the most common race/ethnicity for Police officers is White.

Gender and Age

Metric

The workforce of Police officers in 2024 was 864,102 people, with 14.4% woman, and 85.6% men.

The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 30 to 34 years (135,423 people), 25 to 29 years (124,140  people), and 35 to 39 years (123,159 people). Among them they concentrated 44.3% of the total workforce.

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Ethnicity

Gender

In 2024, 18.2% of Police officers workers were Hispanic and 81.8% non-Hispanic.

The treemap shows the distribution of Hispanic workers according to their origin, highlighting Mexican (51.7%), Puerto Rican (21.1)%, and Dominican (5.31)%

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Races

In 2024, 66.3% 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 (13.5%) and Two or More Races (11.9%).

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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 2024 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 2024 (counting all academic degrees) were Protective Services (136,205 people), Business (49,846 people), and Social Sciences (38,923 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 (283,090 people), Some college (246,844 people), and Associates Degree (146,339 people).

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

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