Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,963
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$11,737
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,327
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$59,700
Kept after tax
$47,963
Worth in national money
$54,327
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Oklahoma pays this job a middle wage of $59,700, 40 of 51 states and about 21.66% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Oklahoma reports figures for, this is number 191.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,700 you keep $47,963 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,327 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $63,120, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma's $59,700 median for police and sheriff's patrol officers places it 40 of 51 states, about 21.66% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- In Oklahoma's occupational distribution, police and sheriff's patrol officers sits at 191 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $47,963 after the full tax stack, from $59,700. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,327 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $63,120 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,940 |
| This salary | $59,700 |
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 Oklahoma | $47,963 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,149 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,720 |
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 | $56,979 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,290 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
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 Oklahoma earn under $59,700 and half over. The published range runs $36,480 at the tenth percentile to $94,940 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,963 take-home in Oklahoma comes from $59,700. 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 191 of 492.
- Two cautions on $54,327, the adjusted value of that $59,700 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 191 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Oklahoma, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,480 to $94,940; 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 $47,963, from $59,700, assumes a single Oklahoma 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 191 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- This $54,327 adjusted figure, worked from $59,700, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 191 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 191 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $63,120, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $36,480 at the bottom tenth to $94,940 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $54,327.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Oklahoma then takes its own share, leaving $47,963.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Oklahoma is $63,120. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,480) and the ninetieth ($94,940) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Oklahoma's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $54,327 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $47,963 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
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.