Best Cities For Police Officers: Where Chicago Ranks

CHICAGO, IL — More than 800,000 people in the United States are employed as police officers. Salary for the profession, as well as danger and stress levels, certainly vary from city to city, but what are the conditions like for cops in Chicago?

The safety expert website Security.org recently released its “Best & Worst Cities for Police.”

Chicago ranked 4th overall among the best cities for law enforcement.

Pittsburgh ranked as the best place for police officers in the nation, the researchers found, followed by Birmingham, Alabama, and New York City.

Other highlights from the report include:

Cops in San Jose, California, earn the highest median annual wage at $126,690. The Golden State dominates the list of highest paying metros for police officers as the top 14 cities are all in California.

The median annual wage for police and detectives in 2018 was $63,380, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Punta Gorda, Florida, earned the dubious honor of worst city for police officers, according to the report.

The researchers analyzed income, police deaths, employment opportunity and cost of living in more than 300 cities. The report used the most recent data from the FBI and U.S. Department of Labor to evaluate these four main metrics.

Here are the 15 best cities for police officers:

1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2. Birmingham, Alabama
3. New York, New York
4. Chicago, Illinois
5. Montgomery, Alabama
6. Toledo, Ohio
7. St. Louis, Missouri
8. Buffalo, New York
9. Cleveland, Ohio
10. Memphis, Tennessee
11. Columbus, Ohio
12. Youngstown, Ohio
13. Los Angeles, California
14. Charleston, West Virginia
15. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The full law enforcement report is available on Security.org.