Police Lieutenant

Across all employers in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN area, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives — about 1,050 people — is $94,420. Police Forensic Services Key pays a median base salary of $77,148 for this role, 18% below that figure — about the 33rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Median total compensation for this role at Police Forensic Services Key is $102,852, 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.

Police Lieutenant is held in 52 Metro Nashville departments. In Police Forensic Services Key, the median of $102,852 ranks #19 of 52.

This role is reported in 22 jurisdictions. In Metro Nashville, the median of $78,338 ranks #20 of 22. See Police Lieutenant across all of Metro Nashville →