Find a Job You Really Want In
Whether you’re just starting out your career, or looking to make a move, it can be important to know what part of the country offers the best chance for your long term career prospects. And for a very common profession like Police Officers, the regional differences can have a big impact on your salary and career options.
To help you make the best decision possible, we at Zippia wanted to look at the cities that offer police officers the most for their career. These are the cities across the US where police officers get paid well, relative to the cost of living, and jobs are plentiful.
So we did what we do best and dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which cities have the best opportunities for police officers.The result is this list of the best cities police officers:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Philadelphia, PA
- Miami, FL
- Chicago, IL
- Trenton, NJ
- Visalia, CA
- Santa Cruz, CA
- Oxnard, CA
- Redding, CA
- Atlantic City, NJ
So there you have it — Los Angeles is the best city when it comes to being a police officer.
And where should you consider avoiding if you’re a police officer? That would be Hammond.
Read on to see how we completed our research on the best cities for police officers and for more on the top ten cities.
How we determined the best cities to be a police officers?
Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:
- Availability of jobs
- Pay
So in order to find out the best cities for police officers in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well police officers get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:
- Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given city.
- Average annual salary.
- Average annual salary for entry level work.
To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across cities, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living.
This left us with enough data for 401 metro areas across the country. We then took the primary area of the metro and labeled that the ‘city’ for this analysis. So, for example, “Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division” became simply Boston.
In order to develop an overall ranking, we ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 401 where 1 was the best.
We then averaged all the rankings for a city into a Job Score with the city having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best city for police officers in America.
So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each city so great for police officers.
1. Los Angeles, CA
Total Jobs: 25,450
Average Annual Salary: $96,810
Average Entry Level Salary: $66,500
Location Quotient: 1.31
2. Philadelphia, PA
Total Jobs: 6,730
Average Annual Salary: $67,130
Average Entry Level Salary: $47,000
Location Quotient: 1.61
3. Miami, FL
Total Jobs: 7,770
Average Annual Salary: $73,350
Average Entry Level Salary: $49,210
Location Quotient: 1.5
4. Chicago, IL
Total Jobs: 21,220
Average Annual Salary: $74,860
Average Entry Level Salary: $50,350
Location Quotient: 1.25
5. Trenton, NJ
Total Jobs: 1,180
Average Annual Salary: $90,980
Average Entry Level Salary: $62,270
Location Quotient: 1.12
6. Visalia, CA
Total Jobs: 970
Average Annual Salary: $73,150
Average Entry Level Salary: $52,390
Location Quotient: 1.46
7. Santa Cruz, CA
Total Jobs: 430
Average Annual Salary: $100,430
Average Entry Level Salary: $69,860
Location Quotient: 1.02
8. Oxnard, CA
Total Jobs: 1,430
Average Annual Salary: $102,570
Average Entry Level Salary: $67,080
Location Quotient: 1.02
9. Redding, CA
Total Jobs: 310
Average Annual Salary: $90,440
Average Entry Level Salary: $53,230
Location Quotient: 1.13
10. Atlantic City, NJ
Total Jobs: 930
Average Annual Salary: $81,820
Average Entry Level Salary: $43,830
Location Quotient: 1.55
And that’s our list of the best cities for police officers
If you’re looking to start out your career as a police officer these are the cities that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.
If you’re curious, here are the worst cities to be a police officer in America:
- Hammond
- Monroe
- Bangor
Detailed List Of The Best Cities For Police Officers
| Rank | State | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles, CA | $96,810 |
| 2 | Philadelphia, PA | $67,130 |
| 3 | Miami, FL | $73,350 |
| 4 | Chicago, IL | $74,860 |
| 5 | Trenton, NJ | $90,980 |
| 6 | Visalia, CA | $73,150 |
| 7 | Santa Cruz, CA | $100,430 |
| 8 | Oxnard, CA | $102,570 |
| 9 | Redding, CA | $90,440 |
| 10 | Atlantic City, NJ | $81,820 |
| 11 | Vallejo, CA | $96,870 |
| 12 | Fort Worth, TX | $65,130 |
| 13 | Erie, PA | $71,970 |
| 14 | Chico, CA | $80,500 |
| 15 | Champaign, IL | $70,300 |
| 16 | Elgin, IL | $75,270 |
| 17 | San Francisco, CA | $108,150 |
| 18 | Detroit, MI | $62,370 |
| 19 | Beaumont, TX | $60,670 |
| 20 | El Paso, TX | $60,020 |
| 21 | Oakland, CA | $98,580 |
| 22 | Newark, NJ | $89,260 |
| 23 | Amarillo, TX | $58,900 |
| 24 | Racine, WI | $64,230 |
| 25 | Bakersfield, CA | $73,060 |
| 26 | Sacramento, CA | $87,300 |
| 27 | Houston, TX | $61,030 |
| 28 | Dover, DE | $66,720 |
| 29 | San Jose, CA | $114,520 |
| 30 | Laredo, TX | $60,890 |
| 31 | Mount Vernon, WA | $73,030 |
| 32 | San Luis Obispo, CA | $85,030 |
| 33 | Columbus, OH | $66,050 |
| 34 | San Diego, CA | $78,420 |
| 35 | West Palm Beach, FL | $67,200 |
| 36 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | $67,210 |
| 37 | Riverside, CA | $88,050 |
| 38 | Stockton, CA | $83,810 |
| 39 | Santa Maria, CA | $94,230 |
| 40 | South Bend, IN | $51,210 |
| 41 | Austin, TX | $68,410 |
| 42 | Dallas, TX | $63,990 |
| 43 | Cleveland, OH | $58,620 |
| 44 | Dayton, OH | $59,580 |
| 45 | Pueblo, CO | $63,520 |
| 46 | Hanford, CA | $68,800 |
| 47 | Brockton, MA | $66,370 |
| 48 | Lake Havasu City, AZ | $54,910 |
| 49 | Farmington, NM | $50,740 |
| 50 | San Angelo, TX | $51,130 |
| 51 | Salem, OR | $69,440 |
| 52 | Lancaster, PA | $70,520 |
| 53 | El Centro, CA | $77,160 |
| 54 | San Antonio, TX | $56,960 |
| 55 | Montgomery County, PA | $77,540 |
| 56 | Naples, FL | $58,760 |
| 57 | Fort Collins, CO | $74,260 |
| 58 | Las Vegas, NV | $76,460 |
| 59 | Decatur, IL | $62,310 |
| 60 | Boulder, CO | $70,810 |
| 61 | Kankakee, IL | $66,540 |
| 62 | Camden, NJ | $76,430 |
| 63 | New York, NY | $73,480 |
| 64 | Toledo, OH | $53,000 |
| 65 | Phoenix, AZ | $64,260 |
| 66 | Salinas, CA | $80,820 |
| 67 | Anchorage, AK | $78,100 |
| 68 | Tacoma, WA | $74,380 |
| 69 | Gary, IN | $51,410 |
| 70 | Reno, NV | $66,210 |
| 71 | Merced, CA | $75,010 |
| 72 | Colorado Springs, CO | $64,790 |
| 73 | Santa Rosa, CA | $97,420 |
| 74 | Nassau County, NY | $97,910 |
| 75 | Madera, CA | $68,410 |
| 76 | Coeur d’Alene, ID | $52,210 |
| 77 | Bellingham, WA | $71,410 |
| 78 | Lewiston, ID | $50,980 |
| 79 | Punta Gorda, FL | $51,410 |
| 80 | Killeen, TX | $51,640 |
| 81 | Napa, CA | $104,010 |
| 82 | Anaheim, CA | $97,530 |
| 83 | Akron, OH | $56,020 |
| 84 | Seattle, WA | $82,120 |
| 85 | East Stroudsburg, PA | $81,150 |
| 86 | Wilmington, DE | $66,000 |
| 87 | Yakima, WA | $68,150 |
| 88 | Cincinnati, OH | $59,860 |
| 89 | College Station, TX | $55,560 |
| 90 | Kennewick, WA | $73,110 |
| 91 | Lake County, IL | $73,970 |
| 92 | Lima, OH | $51,490 |
| 93 | Tucson, AZ | $57,280 |
| 94 | Denver, CO | $71,740 |
| 95 | Flagstaff, AZ | $55,000 |
| 96 | Allentown, PA | $62,660 |
| 97 | Janesville, WI | $56,880 |
| 98 | Sherman, TX | $52,030 |
| 99 | Decatur, AL | $51,940 |
| 100 | Greeley, CO | $56,240 |
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
