Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,080
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$13,790
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,692
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$65,870
Kept after tax
$52,080
Worth in national money
$51,692
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Virginia pays this job a middle wage of $65,870, 37 of 51 states and about 13.57% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 193.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $65,870 the take-home is $52,080, which is worth about $51,692 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $70,450, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia's $65,870 median for police and sheriff's patrol officers places it 37 of 51 states, about 13.57% 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 Virginia's occupational distribution, police and sheriff's patrol officers sits at 193 of 489 — 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for police and sheriff's patrol officers on its $65,870 median: $52,080 retained after tax becomes $51,692 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $70,450 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,820 |
| This salary | $65,870 |
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 Virginia | $52,080 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,107 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,016 |
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 | $62,103 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,066 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $65,870. The published range is $50,000 up to $96,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $52,080, worked from $65,870. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 193 of 489.
- Two cautions on $51,692, the adjusted value of that $65,870 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 193 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,000 to $96,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $52,080, on $65,870 for work ranking 193 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 193 of 489 in the state.
- This $51,692 adjusted figure, worked from $65,870, 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 193 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 193 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $70,450, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $50,000 and the top tenth $96,820, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $51,692 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $52,080 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 Virginia is $70,450. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,000 to $96,820) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $51,692 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $52,080 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.