Police Recruit

Enforce laws and maintain public safety — patrol, respond to incidents, investigate crimes, and make arrests.

74 employees hold this title in Seattle Police Department. Median total compensation for the role is $82,222, below the department median of $156,728.

Employees: 74
Total payroll: $6.1M
Role median: $82,222
Agency median: $156,728
Comparison: Below

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$82,222$82,242+

Hover a bar for its range; click to filter the list below.

How total compensation varies among the 74 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.

Compared with the local labor market

Police Recruit pay vs. the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area

Across all employers in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area, the median wage for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers — about 4,520 people — is $115,120. Seattle Police Department pays a median base salary of $82,222 for this role, 29% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Seattle Police Department sits in the local pay range

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$94,290

$101,820

$115,120

$126,950

$136,110

Seattle Police Department median · $82,222

The bar is the range of annual wages for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers across every employer in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Seattle Police Department’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. Seattle Police Department’s median base salary is 8% above that national figure, about the 57th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$47,510

$59,290

$76,210

$97,600

$115,120

Seattle Police Department median · $82,222

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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA range relative to the national one.

Median total compensation for this role at Seattle Police Department is $82,222, 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 beyond City of Seattle

This role is reported in 6 jurisdictions. In City of Seattle, the median of $82,222 ranks #1 of 6. See Police Recruit across all of City of Seattle →

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

City of Cincinnati

$60,242 · 58

City of Memphis

$56,250 · 53

City of San Jose

$28,448 · 89

City of Phoenix, Arizona

$25,848 · 402

Louisville Metro, Kentucky

$10,702 · 265

Median total compensation for comparable Police Recruit roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.

Record list