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Police & Sheriff's Patrol Officers salary in Detroit, MI

Median pay for police & sheriff's patrol officers in Detroit, MI: $74,610/yr

Typical range (10th–90th percentile): $50,340 – $86,250 · about 7,480 employed locally

Above the typical metro median ($69,845) by +$4,765 (+7%).

What it's really worth in Detroit

With Detroit's cost of living at 98 (US=100), that $74,610 has the buying power of about $75,988 in an average-cost US metro.

Local context: median household income $72,456 · median home $269,080 · median rent $1,500/mo.

Full Detroit cost of living & taxes →

How Detroit ranks for this job

On raw pay, Detroit, MI is 84th of the 186 metros we hold police & sheriff's patrol officers wages for. Once Detroit's cost of living is applied, it ranks 90th.

Pay and living costs are roughly in step here, so Detroit sits in much the same place whether you look at raw salary or spending power.

What that salary buys in Detroit

A median home in Detroit, MI costs $269,080 — about 3.6× 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 $1,500/mo works out at 24% 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 Detroit.

MetroMedian payvs DetroitRent vs Detroit
San Jose, CA $145,340 +95% 2.4×
San Francisco, CA $134,860 +81% 2.2×
Vallejo, CA $125,130 +68% 1.6×
Santa Maria, CA $118,140 +58% 2.2×

Same job elsewhere in MI

MetroMedian payvs DetroitRent vs Detroit
Grand Rapids, MI $76,490 +3% 1.1×
Ann Arbor, MI $75,500 +1% 1.4×
Lansing, MI $71,340 −4% 0.8×
Kalamazoo, MI $69,770 −6% 0.9×

Staying in MI keeps state income tax and licensing the same, which makes these the most directly comparable moves.

Other jobs in Detroit

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.