Police & Sheriff's Patrol Officers salary in Brownsville, TX
Median pay for police & sheriff's patrol officers in Brownsville, TX: $64,710/yr
Typical range (10th–90th percentile): $39,940 – $80,520 · about 940 employed locally
Below the typical metro median ($69,845) by −$5,135 (-7%).
What it's really worth in Brownsville
With Brownsville's cost of living at 86 (US=100), that $64,710 has the buying power of about $75,508 in an average-cost US metro.
Local context: median household income $47,435 · median home $207,150 · median rent $1,460/mo.
How Brownsville ranks for this job
On raw pay, Brownsville, TX is 115th of the 186 metros we hold police & sheriff's patrol officers wages for. Once Brownsville's cost of living is applied, it ranks 93rd.
Pay here goes further than the headline number suggests — Brownsville is one of the places where police & sheriff's patrol officers gain ground in real terms, because local costs are low relative to what the job pays.
What that salary buys in Brownsville
A median home in Brownsville, TX costs $207,150 — about 3.2× this salary, against a typical US metro figure of 4.7×. Buying is more attainable here than in the average metro on this income.
Median rent of $1,460/mo works out at 27% of gross pay — inside the conventional 30% affordability ceiling.
Where police & sheriff's patrol officers earn more
Pay on its own is only half the picture, so each row shows what rent costs there relative to Brownsville.
| Metro | Median pay | vs Brownsville | Rent vs Brownsville |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose, CA | $145,340 | +125% | 2.5× |
| San Francisco, CA | $134,860 | +108% | 2.2× |
| Vallejo, CA | $125,130 | +93% | 1.6× |
| Santa Maria, CA | $118,140 | +83% | 2.3× |
Same job elsewhere in TX
| Metro | Median pay | vs Brownsville | Rent vs Brownsville |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX | $84,280 | +30% | 1.1× |
| Austin, TX | $84,210 | +30% | 1.1× |
| Laredo, TX | $81,910 | +27% | 0.9× |
| Amarillo, TX | $77,980 | +21% | 0.9× |
Staying in TX keeps state income tax and licensing the same, which makes these the most directly comparable moves.
Other jobs in Brownsville
Source: US BLS OEWS (May 2023) median annual wage; cost of living from BEA; home price and rent from Zillow; household income from US Census ACS. Rankings are across the 186 metros we hold wage data for in this occupation. Estimates for guidance only. See methodology.