Police pay is really three different numbers: the salary on the job posting, what overtime does to it, and what is left after tax. This calculator works through all three — start with the official median pay for your state, add your overtime, and see an honest estimate of take-home pay.
Note: Salary figures are the US Bureau of Labor Statistics medians for patrol officers (May 2025), not a promise from any department — a rookie starts below the median and a senior officer earns above it. The take-home figure is an estimate before state income tax; your pension contribution and other deductions will reduce it further.
Police Salary Calculator
Pick your state to start from the official BLS median pay for patrol officers, add any weekly overtime, and see your gross pay and an estimated take-home. You can also type your own hourly rate.
| Base pay (40 hrs/week) | |
| Overtime pay | |
| Gross annual pay | |
| Federal income tax (2026) | |
| Social Security + Medicare (FICA) | |
| Estimated take-home (before state tax) |
Estimate only. Uses 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction plus FICA (7.65% under the Social Security cap). It does not deduct state income tax, pension contributions, health premiums or union dues, so your real take-home will usually be lower.
How Police Pay Actually Builds Up
The BLS medians in this calculator are straight-time pay: base wages only, before overtime premiums, shift differentials and benefits. That is exactly why overtime matters so much in policing. A few hours a week at time-and-a-half can add five figures a year — in the calculator's California example, 5 overtime hours a week add more than $22,000 to gross pay.
The Overtime Rule Most Officers Get Wrong
The familiar rule — time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a week — is the federal default, but many public agencies instead use Section 7(k) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which measures overtime over a work period of up to 28 days. On a 28-day period, federal overtime is owed only after 171 hours. Plenty of departments still pay after 40 by contract or policy; the point is that the premium is not automatic everywhere, so check your own agency's rule before you count it.
Why Your Take-Home Will Differ
This calculator deducts federal income tax (2026 brackets and standard deduction) and FICA, and says plainly that it has not taken state income tax. What it also cannot see is the biggest police-specific deduction of all: the mandatory pension contribution many officers pay, often a high single-digit share of every check, along with health premiums and union dues. Use the estimate to compare states and overtime loads — not as a payslip.
Run your own numbers twice: once with no overtime, to see your floor, and once with the overtime your target department realistically works. The gap between those two results is the truest picture of police pay — and for many officers, it is the overtime, not the base salary, that decides whether the job adds up.
Police pay questions, answered
How much do police officers make in the US?
The median patrol officer earned $76,210 a year ($36.64 an hour) in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 figures. The range is wide: the lowest-paid tenth earned $47,510 or less and the top tenth $115,120 or more. State matters enormously — the median runs from $46,140 in Mississippi to $118,880 in California.
Is overtime always paid at time-and-a-half after 40 hours a week?
Not always under federal law. Many public agencies use the FLSA's Section 7(k) work periods instead of a plain workweek: on a 28-day period, federal overtime is owed only after 171 hours, so an officer can work more than 40 in a single week without a federal premium. In practice, many departments still pay time-and-a-half beyond 40 by contract or policy — check yours.
Why is my real take-home lower than this calculator's estimate?
The calculator deducts federal income tax and FICA only. Most officers also have a mandatory pension contribution (often a noticeable share of pay), health-insurance premiums and sometimes union dues taken out before the money reaches them, plus state income tax in most states. Treat the estimate as the ceiling, not the paycheck.
Is overtime pay taxed differently?
Overtime is taxed as regular income, but for tax years 2025 to 2028 a temporary federal deduction lets many workers deduct the premium part of FLSA overtime (the extra "half" of time-and-a-half), up to $12,500 for single filers and $25,000 for joint filers. This calculator does not model that deduction, so your actual tax may be a little lower if you qualify.
Where do these salary figures come from?
The state medians are the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers, May 2025 release — the same official figures the Department of Labor publishes on O*NET. The tax estimate uses the IRS's 2026 brackets and standard deductions.
Keep reading on Police Pathfinder
- Police officer salary — pay by experience, rank and city, explained
- Sheriff vs police salary — which badge pays more?
- How much do police detectives earn? — the promotion that changes the pay scale
- Does education make a difference for police salary? — degrees, incentives and pay bumps