City of Buffalo / Police Lieutenant
Role across City of Buffalo
Police Lieutenant
Enforce laws and maintain public safety — patrol, respond to incidents, investigate crimes, and make arrests.
126 people hold the Police Lieutenant role across 25 departments in City of Buffalo, with a median total compensation of $133,026. Among 22 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Buffalo ranks #12 by median pay.
- Employees
- 126
- Median pay
- $133,026
- Departments
- 25
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #12 of 22
Compared with the local labor market
Police Lieutenant pay vs. the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area
Across all employers in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives — about 510 people — is $103,330. City of Buffalo pays a median base salary of $85,235 for this role, 18% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of Buffalo sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives across every employer in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Buffalo’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives — about 154,610 people — is $106,040. City of Buffalo’s median base salary is 20% below that national figure, about the 28th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 91 of 126 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at City of Buffalo is $133,026, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Police Lieutenant pay in other jurisdictions
Where Police Lieutenants are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Police Lieutenant roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.
Within City of Buffalo
Departments with this role
Largest City of Buffalo departments for this role
Departments in City of Buffalo employing the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.