City of San Jose / Police Sergeant
Role across City of San Jose
Police Sergeant
Enforce laws and maintain public safety — patrol, respond to incidents, investigate crimes, and make arrests.
180 people hold the Police Sergeant role across 1 department in City of San Jose, with a median total compensation of $389,959. Among 21 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of San Jose ranks #1 by median pay.
- Employees
- 180
- Median pay
- $389,959
- Departments
- 1
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #1 of 21
Compared with the local labor market
Police Sergeant pay vs. the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area
Across all employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives — about 370 people — is $163,700. City of San Jose pays a median base salary of $194,622 for this role, 19% above that figure — about the 66th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of San Jose 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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of San Jose’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 San Jose’s median base salary is 84% above that national figure, above the 90th 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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 177 of 180 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 San Jose is $389,959, 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 Sergeant pay in other jurisdictions
Where Police Sergeants are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Police Sergeant 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 San Jose
Department with this role
The City of San Jose department holding this role
The one department in City of San Jose that reports this role. The bar links to that department’s page for it.