City of Memphis / Police Recruit
Role across City of Memphis
Police Recruit
Enforce laws and maintain public safety — patrol, respond to incidents, investigate crimes, and make arrests.
53 people hold the Police Recruit role across 1 department in City of Memphis, with a median total compensation of $56,250. Among 6 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Memphis ranks #3 by median pay.
- Employees
- 53
- Median pay
- $56,250
- Departments
- 1
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #3 of 6
Compared with the local labor market
Police Recruit pay vs. the Memphis, TN-MS-AR area
Across all employers in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR area, the median wage for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers — about 3,630 people — is $75,410. City of Memphis pays a median base salary of $56,250 for this role, 25% below that figure — about the 22nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of Memphis sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers across every employer in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Memphis’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers — about 670,520 people — is $76,210. City of Memphis’s median base salary is 26% below that national figure, about the 21st 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 Memphis, TN-MS-AR range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at City of Memphis is $56,250, 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 Recruit pay in other jurisdictions
Where Police Recruits are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Police Recruitroles 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.