Hired first, trained second, paid from the first day of the academy. No degree required in most of the country.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$76,210
Small town, new
$47,510
Big city, senior
$115,120
The national median is $76,210 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $47,510. The federal survey counts city police and sheriff's deputies together, which matches how the job really works. No career on this site varies more by which city you live in: the same badge is worth twice as much in one place as another.
Full salary from day one
Once a department hires you, training is a paid job
This is the single biggest financial argument for the career. You start earning at 20 or 21 while friends are three years into tuition. The Los Angeles Police Department, for example, advertises entry-level officer pay of $93,730 to $127,660.
Overtime, court time, specialist pay
Base salary is only part of what an officer takes home
Officers are paid to appear in court on their days off, to work holidays, and often receive bonuses for a second language, a degree or a specialist assignment. A busy officer can add a significant share on top of base pay, at the cost of a normal schedule.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is zero, because a department hires you first, pays you through the academy and issues your uniform and equipment with a yearly allowance after that. The high end is a self sponsored academy, which some states let you attend before applying, plus a four year degree at an in state public university that most states do not require. Almost nobody enters this career in debt. If you do choose college first, file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and a police job at a government agency counts toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Almost nobody enters this career in debt. If you do go to college first, file the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), and remember that a police job at a government agency counts toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
A real pension
Los Angeles officers join the city's own police and fire pension system. Defined-benefit pensions have vanished from most private work but remain standard here.
Compressed shifts
Many departments run 10-hour or 12-hour shifts, which means more days off in a row.
Generous leave
Los Angeles starts officers with 12 sick days and 15 vacation days a year, rising to 23 vacation days after 10 years.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
City, county, state and federal police jobs all qualify.
City-subsidized health and dental cover
Usually extended to your family.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
The hiring process is the hard part, and it is long. Training comes after you are already employed.
High school diploma or equivalent
Grade 12
The legal minimum nearly everywhere. Keep your record clean from now on: the background investigation covers drugs, driving, debt, employment and social media.
Reach the minimum age
0 to 3 years
Most agencies hire at 21, a few at 20. If you finish high school at 18 you will likely wait, and college, military service or a dispatch job are the usual ways to fill it.
Apply and get through testing
6 to 12 months
Written examination, physical fitness test, oral board, background investigation, polygraph in some states, then medical and psychological screening. It takes months and most applicants do not finish it.
Academy
About 6 months
A state-certified academy, roughly six months in most states, covering law, firearms, driving, tactics, first aid and report writing. You are paid the whole time.
Field training
4 to 12 months
Several months riding with a training officer who evaluates you daily, then a probation period. Only after that are you on your own.
English
Reports are evidence. Officers who cannot write clearly lose cases and promotions.
Physical education
The entry fitness test is a real barrier and the job lasts 25 years.
Psychology or sociology
Most of the job is talking people down, not chasing them.
Spanish or another second language
Many departments pay a monthly bonus for a tested second language.
There is no national police license. Each state runs a standards and training commission that sets who may be hired, certifies the academies, and can strip an officer's certification for misconduct. California's is the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Because certification is state-specific, moving to another state usually means extra coursework or a second academy, even after years of service.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Detective or investigations
Daytime hours, a caseload instead of a radio. Usually after 3 to 5 years on patrol.
Traffic and collision reconstruction
Technical, specialist and in demand.
K-9 handler
The dog lives with you, which is a lifestyle decision as much as a career one.
School resource officer
School-year hours and a very different relationship with the community.
Training officer
Teaching recruits, and the normal step before promotion to sergeant.
A clean personal history
Drug use, debt, a bad driving record or dishonesty in the application ends it. This is the most common reason people fail.
Military or emergency medical experience
Weighted by most agencies and by federal hiring.
Dispatch or community service officer work
A paid way to spend the waiting years inside the agency you want to join.
Emergency medical technician certification
Some agencies pay extra, and it makes you useful in the first five minutes of anything.
Sheriff's deputies, state troopers, transit and airport police, park rangers, campus police and federal uniformed police all do versions of this job with different schedules, jurisdictions and pay. Federal openings appear on USAJOBS (the official federal hiring site). If one door closes, and the hiring process closes a lot of them, the same certification and fitness often opens another.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Briefing, then you take a car and a radio for 10 or 12 hours. Most of it is calls that are not crimes: welfare checks, disputes, traffic collisions, mental health crises, people at the worst point of their week. Between calls you write, because everything needs a report. A few times a shift something moves fast and you have seconds to decide. Nights, weekends and holidays are normal, and court appearances land on your days off.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The national median for a patrol officer is $76,210 a year, but the Los Angeles Police Department advertises entry-level pay of $93,730 to $127,660. Where you pin the badge matters more to your income than how long you have worn it.
Written test, fitness test, oral board, a background investigation that contacts former employers and neighbors, a polygraph in some states, then medical and psychological screening. Most applicants are eliminated before they ever reach a classroom.
California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training certifies academies and officers, and can decertify an officer for serious misconduct. Almost every state now runs one, and because the certification is state-specific, an officer moving states often has to train again.
Departments that run 12-hour shifts, including Los Angeles, often give officers three days off at a stretch. The trade is that some of those shifts are overnight, and holidays are not holidays when you are the one working them.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.