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Job outlook for patrol sergeants in the United States
Patrol sergeant job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected patrol sergeant job growth rate is 3% from 2018-2028.
About 20,600 new jobs for patrol sergeants are projected over the next decade.
Patrol sergeant salaries have increased 10% for patrol sergeants in the last 5 years.
There are over 66,388 patrol sergeants currently employed in the United States.
There are 22,591 active patrol sergeant job openings in the US.
The average patrol sergeant salary is $56,638.
Are patrol sergeant jobs in demand?
Patrol sergeant job and salary trends over time
Patrol sergeant jobs over time
Patrol sergeant job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 66,388 | 0.02% |
| 2020 | 65,227 | 0.02% |
| 2019 | 66,175 | 0.02% |
| 2018 | 65,665 | 0.02% |
| 2017 | 65,416 | 0.02% |
Average patrol sergeant salary over time
Patrol sergeant salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $56,638 | $27.23 | +3.8% |
| 2025 | $54,573 | $26.24 | +2.9% |
| 2024 | $53,043 | $25.50 | +0.5% |
| 2023 | $52,758 | $25.36 | +2.3% |
| 2022 | $51,574 | $24.80 | +2.3% |
Patrol sergeant jobs by state
Most common states for patrol sergeants
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 17 | 3% |
| 2 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 29 | 2% |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 26 | 2% |
| 4 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 22 | 2% |
| 5 | Alaska | 739,795 | 17 | 2% |
| 6 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 15 | 2% |
| 7 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 11 | 2% |
| 8 | California | 39,536,653 | 470 | 1% |
| 9 | Texas | 28,304,596 | 152 | 1% |
| 10 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 81 | 1% |
| 11 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 69 | 1% |
| 12 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 68 | 1% |
| 13 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 50 | 1% |
| 14 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 41 | 1% |
| 15 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 36 | 1% |
| 16 | Mississippi | 2,984,100 | 32 | 1% |
| 17 | Hawaii | 1,427,538 | 17 | 1% |
| 18 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 11 | 1% |
| 19 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 11 | 1% |
| 20 | Vermont | 623,657 | 9 | 1% |
Most common cities for patrol sergeants
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Youngstown | 1 | 2% | $63,220 |
Patrol Sergeant job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of patrol sergeant experts
University of Georgia
Governors State University
Murray State University
Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg
Georgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University
Curry College
La Sierra University
University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh
Jill Myers
Director of the School of Law Enforcement and Justice AdministrationWhat general advice would you give to a Patrol Sergeant?
Jill Myers: The more skill sets you have the better prepared you will be for future advancement and salary increases. Having a solid education, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and a masters degree will sometimes result in increased wages. Having federal certifications and competencies will enhance your opportunities and create potential marketability for your career. It is always a great skill set to have people skills, communication in both written and oral formats. It will enhance your ability to explain yourself in court, in the warrants one prepares, and with dealing with the public in all circumstances from victims and witnesses and suspects, to legislators, the funding sources like mayors and city council and the public at large.
What Patrol Sergeant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jill Myers: Law Enforcement is a much needed and distinguished profession. Going into the field you need a thorough background in the criminal justice system, state and federal, a working knowledge of the laws and Constitutional dictates, and the ability to communicate well both verbally and in writing. The job requires the ability to not just talk the part, but to critically think and apply the skills learned in the classrooms with real people in real situations. You will need to start the job with the ability to be a hero, to respond to real events on perhaps the worst days of someone's life. The job requires knowledge, ethical conduct, and compassion for everyone, even those who have committed unlawful actions.
What general advice would you give to a Patrol Sergeant?
Todd Krohn: I think internship experience prior to applying maximizes your salary potential, as well as compiling a list of relevant volunteer experiences, and keeping a clean record. Every agency is going to run background checks, and increasingly many are running credit checks as well. A clean record going in definitely makes you a more marketable candidate.
Dr. Janet Brewer
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice & SociologyGovernors State University
Criminal Justice And Corrections
What general advice would you give to a Patrol Sergeant?
Dr. Janet Brewer: Market yourself as someone who can increase revenue or decrease workload for that entity. Use your school's alumni network to its fullest.
What Patrol Sergeant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Alaina Steele: People go into the criminal justice field for many different reasons, so be proactive in making sure your employer will provide a suitable work environment and the right kinds of support/development for you to be the type of criminal justice professional you want to be. When applying for jobs, remember that you are interviewing agencies at the same time they are interviewing you. Ask questions that provide you with insight on the things you're looking for in an employer. If possible, talk to people who work or have worked there to find out what they love(d) about their job and colleagues and what they would change. Search online for what an agency's clients or the people who live in the communities they serve have to say about their experiences and recent encounters with the criminal justice professionals at that agency. Take the time to consider if what you find in your research is something that aligns with your personal values and career goals.
Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorPennsylvania State University - Harrisburg
School of Public Affairs, Criminal Justice Program
What skills stand out on Patrol Sergeant resumes?
Jennifer Gibbs Ph.D.: Police officers need many skills to be successful on the job. The most important are written and oral communication skills and the ability to make ethical decisions with limited information quickly. Written communications skills are crucial. If a police report is poorly worded or incomplete, it can derail a criminal case. Police officers also need to talk to people of all ages from all walks of life in any circumstance. Often, police meet people on what may be the worst day of their lives when emotions are running high. Police need to be able to help calm a person while gathering information. Police need to be able to use their words and body language to empathize with someone who has been victimized, and they need to project authority, so people making poor decisions obey their commands.
This may be common sense, but research has demonstrated that communication and ethical decision-making skills are important for police officers. (See the research article published in 2017 in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, entitled "An assessment of the relative importance of criminal justice learning objectives," by Baker and colleagues.) Baker and colleagues asked students, professionals, and college professors to rate the skills of hypothetical job applicants. These participants rated the following as the most important characteristics for criminal justice applicants (including law enforcement officers):
Ethics
Oral communication
Critical thinking
Sensitivity to diversity
Written communication skills
Logan Somers Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorGeorgia Southern University
Criminal Justice and Criminology Department
What skills stand out on Patrol Sergeant resumes?
Logan Somers Ph.D.: Skills and experiences that stand out on Law Enforcement Officer resumes are not too dissimilar from desirable qualities in other industries. First, even though the vast majority of police departments do not have an education requirement beyond high school, most recruits entering the academy do have at least some college experience. Therefore, having an associate's or bachelor's degree will make you competitive. Further, policing in today's society requires officers to be elite communicators, critical thinkers, and problem-solvers. Any prior work experience that can be used to demonstrate how you performed those skills under pressure should be highlighted. Lastly, any prior community service and or mentoring should be included. Having these experiences displays your commitment to improving your community and bettering the lives of those around you.
What soft skills should all Patrol Sergeants possess?
Logan Somers Ph.D.: Officers are tasked with handling a wide range of service-oriented (e.g., providing directions, conducting wellness checks, assisting a citizen whose car has broken down) and order maintenance (e.g., attending to noise complaints, settling domestic disputes, directing traffic) duties that go beyond just crime enforcement. This necessitates that an officer must possess numerous intangible skills. These include the ability to communicate effectively and treat citizens in a respectful and courteous manner. Doing this will go a long way towards keeping situations from escalating and building positive community relationships. Officers also have a great deal of discretion, meaning that in most citizen interactions, they have numerous actions and inactions that they can choose from. For example, officers conducting traffic enforcement typically have the discretion to decide who to stop, where to stop them, and whether to give a citation or a warning. Given this great deal of power, having the ability to think critically and ethically are paramount.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Patrol Sergeants?
Logan Somers Ph.D.: A significant portion of an officer's day can often be spent filling out paperwork. Every stop, citation, warrant, arrest, or use of force incident typically requires forms that need to be filled out and sent to supervisors for review. This makes the ability to write proficiently and provide a descriptive narrative of events crucial for day-to-day police work.
What skills will help Patrol Sergeants earn the most?
Logan Somers Ph.D.: Most police organizations follow a bureaucratic, hierarchical model that has many layers of management and specialized units. Though the complexity of this hierarchy varies slightly from department to department, it is nearly universal that all sworn officers begin their careers on patrol. From there, departments often have Civil Service procedures that dictate the minimum requirements necessary for an officer to advance within the department. This usually entails a mandate that an officer must spend between 2 and 5 years on patrol before they are eligible to apply to a supervisory rank or specialized unit. A few ways in which officers can build skills during that time that will help them be competitive when seeking promotions is to continue both their formal education and take increased in-service training. Also, obtaining good performance evaluations is typically vital for advancement.
Amanda Graham Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorGeorgia Southern University
Criminal Justice & Criminology
What skills stand out on Patrol Sergeant resumes?
Amanda Graham Ph.D.: Completed Degree - Although not required for most departments around the country, the completion of a higher-ed degree in any subject signals to hiring committees that the applicant is (1) seeking to improve themselves, (2) open to learning new things, and (3) capable of finishing a goal that they set out to reach.
A second language - Particularly for candidates that speak Spanish fluently, the ability to speak a second language is of increasing importance as communities around the country continue to diversify.
What soft skills should all Patrol Sergeants possess?
Amanda Graham Ph.D.: Verbal Communication - The ability to talk to/hold a conversation with a stranger is essential in the human enterprise of policing. It is one of the best tools and officer has with them to address any situation.
Ethical Decision-Making (Using Discretion Appropriately) - The ability to make the best decision in a given situation is absolutely critical in policing. Not only do officers need to have sound and logical judgment, but also the capacity to make ethically sound decisions helps to prevent the introduction of bias into the criminal justice system.
What skills will help Patrol Sergeants earn the most?
Amanda Graham Ph.D.: Although pay is often determined through Civil Service Boards/Commissions and Police Unions, earning potential can be increased through the completion of higher-ed degrees (e.g., Bachelors, Masters), the ability to speak a second language, and the willingness/ability to work during less-conventional hours (i.e., overnight shifts often receive additional pay/shift differential) or additional hours (i.e., overtime).
What will help Patrol Sergeants increase their earning potential?
Jennifer Balboni: It's certainly been said before, but soft skills-the ability to communicate effectively with different individuals and groups, as well as the ability to advocate for others--are key competencies in the justice field. Being able to communicate with others, as well as understand and empathize with others--is a vital skill in this field.
More technically, graduates who are able to navigate the virtual/digital world will be prepared to help agencies transition to build more permanent digital programming into the fields of corrections, courts, and law enforcement moving forward. The digital programming that has cropped up as a result of this pandemic is likely not going away entirely once the pandemic is more under control-people like the flexibility it provides. The same is true in the justice realm: virtual connections have been integrated in various processes, facilitating important connections between support services and folks involved in the justice system.
T.Christopher Bell
ProfessorLa Sierra University
Criminal Justice Program
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Patrol Sergeants?
T.Christopher Bell: The enduring impact is that we now know we can work remotely. We can file reports online; we can conduct investigations, Background Investigations remotely, and expand our reach nationwide. Also, our hygiene has dramatically improved.
Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of Wisconsin - Oshkosh
Department of Criminal Justice
What Patrol Sergeant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Durmus Alper CAMLIBEL Ph.D.: The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic apparently has brought uncertainty to the job market, and job opportunities, especially in some of the social sciences, are reduced. There is an old Turkish saying, "bread is in the mouth of the lion" (ekmek aslanın ağzında) that sums it up nicely. It implies that it is a struggle to make a living. Life after college is not easy. There is too much competition in the job market. Suppose graduates need to take a gap year. In that case, they need to continue to learn after graduation—an extra set of skills that can put them ahead of other applicants—learning another language can put the graduates on the top of other candidates since there are plenty of applicants just like them. Becoming fluent in a second language can bring graduates several advantages.
They can also apply for internship programs of local and federal criminal justice agencies during a gap year. The graduates can observe a criminal justice agency's working environment and the culture of a specific community. They can decide if they want to serve in the organization and the community. They should also consider international organizations' internship programs, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) or Office of Counter-Terrorism internship programs. The UNODC has an office in New York. This internship program provides a framework for students (enrolled in, or have completed, the final academic year of a bachelor's level or equivalent degree programs) to develop their professional skills and gain practical work experience in an international environment. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, applicants may be requested to undertake the internship online.