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Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

US occupation · SOC 33-3051

Job titles people report: Deputy Sheriff, K-9 Handler (Canine Handler), Law Enforcement Officer, Patrol Officer, Peace Officer, Police Officer, Police Patrol Officer, Public Safety Officer (PSO), SRO (School Resource Officer), State Trooper

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$76,210
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$59,290 – $97,600
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
670,520
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+3.5%
At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected)
51,500
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
High school diploma or equivalent
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances. Perform a combination of the following duties: patrol a specific area; direct traffic; issue traffic summonses; investigate accidents; apprehend and arrest suspects, or serve legal processes of courts. Includes police officers working at educational institutions.

Main tasks

  • Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations.
  • Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.
  • Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.
  • Render aid to accident survivors and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries.
  • Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.
  • Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved.
  • Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
  • Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.

More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Customs and Border Protection Officers.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
High school diploma or equivalent
Training once hired: moderate-term on-the-job training
O*NET Job Zone 3
Medium preparation
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 9 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Environmental Studies

  • Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Environmental Studies at the Major step.

Where many students take environmental studies

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Criminal Justice

  • Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
  • Criminal Justice/Police Science
  • Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
  • Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management
  • Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations
  • Protective Services Operations
  • Maritime Law Enforcement
  • Criminalistics and Criminal Science

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Criminal Justice at the Major step.

Where many students take criminal justice

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk