Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,568
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$20,562
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,243
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$99,130
Kept after tax
$78,568
Worth in national money
$77,243
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $99,130, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 30.07% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 430 occupations Alaska reports, this job comes in at 81 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $99,130 the take-home is $78,568, which is worth about $77,243 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $101,770, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for police and sheriff's patrol officers, at $99,130 — about 30.07% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Police and sheriff's patrol officers ranks 81 of 430 occupations by median in Alaska, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for police and sheriff's patrol officers on its $99,130 median: $78,568 retained after tax becomes $77,243 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $101,770 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,340 |
| This salary | $99,130 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Alaska | $78,568 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,568 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,609 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $99,130 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,985 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of police and sheriff's patrol officers in Alaska earn under $99,130 and half over. The published range runs $60,670 at the tenth percentile to $137,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $78,568 take-home in Alaska comes from $99,130. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 81 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $77,243 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 81.
- Figures are distribution medians for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,670 to $137,340; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $78,568, from $99,130, assumes a single Alaska filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 81 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $77,243, worked from $99,130, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alaska address, on work sitting at 81 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $60,670 at the bottom tenth to $137,340 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $77,243 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $78,568 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($60,670) and the ninetieth ($137,340) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $77,243 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $78,568 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.