Police Salaries in Major Cities Surpass Many College Professors

City payroll data reveal that police officers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newton and Boston are drawing salaries that rival or exceed those of many college professors. The median compensation for a San Francisco officer stands at $301,000, with the top earner taking home $872,000. In Los Angeles, 23 officers earned more than $400,000 in 2025, including both senior chiefs and rank-and-file officers with extensive overtime.

Newton’s 2025 payroll shows eight police employees earning over $300,000, and Boston reported 33 officers surpassing $400,000. Nationally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the mean annual wage for police and sheriff patrol officers at $79,200, compared with $103,470 for postsecondary teachers. At elite institutions, professor salaries range from $100,000 to $145,000 for new hires and up to $430,000 for tenured senior scholars, while the American Association of University Professors cites an average full-time faculty salary of $131,678. These disparities have sparked discussion about police pay and its influence on public-policy debates such as “defund the police.”