302 LAPD officers earned over $300,000 in 2025, compared with 15 at NYPD

An LAPD Detective III collected $449,639 in 2025. Regular pay made up $184,101 of it and other pay $16,859, which left $248,679 in overtime, more than the entire annual paycheck of most officers in either Los Angeles or New York.

Across the active sworn employees in LA's payroll file, 302 people were paid more than $300,000. New York's payroll records cover more than four times as many officers, and just 15 of them crossed that line. Nearly half of LA's 302 held police officer or detective titles.

These are cash earnings, meaning regular pay, overtime, bonuses and differentials, and neither city's figures include employer pension contributions or health benefits. The periods overlap without matching, since Los Angeles reports January through December 2025 and New York's fiscal 2025 runs from July 2024 through June 2025.

Two pay distributions on identical percentage and dollar scales. LAPD paid 302 of 7,634 employees more than $300,000; NYPD paid 15 of 33,102. The area beyond $300,000 is highlighted. — Total cash pay for active sworn employees, with each bar covering $5,000. Full-size graphic · Chart data · Threshold counts

The difference starts well below $300,000. More than three quarters of the LA group earned over $150,000, against 51 percent in New York, and a third earned more than $200,000, compared with 10.4 percent. At $250,000 LA still had 892 people above the line, or 11.7 percent of the group, against New York's 482, or 1.5 percent, despite a much smaller workforce. By $300,000 the shares were about 4 percent and 0.05 percent.

Job titles

Of LA's 302 high earners, 148 held officer or detective titles, 86 were sergeants or lieutenants and 68 were captains or above. Police Officer III was the most common single title with 59 people, followed by Detective III with 42, Detective II with 23, Police Officer II with 16 and Detective I with eight.

The officer and detective group includes some supervisors, since LAPD's own rank descriptions classify Detective II and III as supervisory positions. What the payroll shows is that nearly half of the people over $300,000 held officer or detective titles rather than sergeant, lieutenant or command ones. The Detective III at the top of this story was an example and not the top of the list, since a Deputy Chief II was paid $476,701 and two Sergeant IIs were paid $456,662 and $452,971.

Each of the 302 high earners appears once, at their actual total cash pay. Officer and detective titles account for 148, sergeants and lieutenants for 86, and captains and above for 68. — Each dot is one employee at their actual pay, and the sideways spread only keeps the dots from overlapping. Full-size graphic · Chart data

For the 16 Police Officer IIs in the group, average regular pay was $167,055 and average overtime was $167,886, so overtime supplied slightly more than regular pay before other payments were counted. Their average total was $348,097, more than twice the regular component.

Across the five titles in the officer and detective group, overtime made up between 42 and 48 percent of the average paycheck. Police Officer IIIs averaged $141,829 in overtime, Detective Is $149,089, Detective IIs $135,514 and Detective IIIs $142,560, and the 29 Sergeant Is above $300,000 averaged $156,141. These averages describe only the people who crossed $300,000, and most employees with the same titles earned less.

Together, the 302 received $102.46 million, of which regular pay supplied 60.4 percent, overtime 32.7 percent and other pay 6.9 percent. The file records what each person was paid but not which assignments generated the hours.

The paychecks of all 148 officers and detectives above $300,000, grouped by title and sorted by total. Blue marks regular pay, orange marks overtime and gray marks other pay. — Each bar is one of the 148 officers and detectives above $300,000, sorted by total within each title. Full-size graphic · Chart data

Pay differs below the top earners as well. Across everyone holding the title, an LAPD Police Officer III averaged $199,640 in total cash pay, while a New York lieutenant, which is a supervisory rank, averaged $200,476, only $836 more. That comparison uses the exact payroll titles rather than pooling LA's officer grades or New York's lieutenants on detective-squad and special assignments, and it doesn't adjust for tenure, hours or living costs, so it reflects what the people carrying each title earned and not a starting salary someone entering the job would be promised.

Method

The LA Controller file contains 7,766 active, full-time sworn payroll rows under bargaining units 24 and 25, which come to 7,634 people once rows sharing an employee identifier are combined, and all 302 high earners had a single row. In New York's file, selecting uniformed titles gives 33,102 active, annually paid employee records, with civilian personnel excluded. Both files were pulled on September 9, 2026.

Active status doesn't mean someone worked the full year, and the totals aren't annualized for new hires, so the comparison covers recorded earnings at these two departments and isn't a ranking of American police departments. These payroll populations also differ from official sworn strength, which is 8,663 in Los Angeles and roughly 33,300 in New York.