Is it posible to live well in SF on a police officer's salary? (Los Angeles: real estate, apartment)

[Napoleon357]

At this time I am a Wisconsin Correctional Officer living in Milwaukee. I'm about 95% sure that I don't want to live in Milwaukee for the next 20 years. My question: Can I survive in San Francisco as a police officer? I know the cost of living is expensive there. Any help will be appreciated.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

You can survive, but, living well? No, unfortunately not.

This is a major issue for us in this area - talent retention of police, fire, RNs, etc.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

You can survive, but, living well? No, unfortunately not.

This is a major issue for us in this area - talent retention of police, fire, RNs, etc.

But when you retire you can go anywhere on a healthy pension based on San Francisco Salaries, like I did.

[City Boy]

I think SFPD pay's their officers 65k Per year. OPD pays 90K per year but are no longer hiring I believe.

[stanfordgal]

California Department of Corrections pay very well. Also for police officer San Jose PD is the best.

[ebuch]

LAPD pays high as well, 30 years in and your looking at a pension over 100k with medical

[18Montclair]

California in general pays its Law Enforcement very well. I did a thread a while back about this very topic.

I believe this is average compensation including OT and benefits.

So I was doing some research on the Census Website and came across the median salary for Law Enforcement in Cities.

Aside from LA and SD, Cops in some of CAs larger cities make a whole lot of money.

$80,000+ Across the US
Antioch, CA $100,000+
Baytown, TX $100,000+
Berkeley, CA $100,000+
Concord, CA $100,000+
Coral Springs, FL $100,000+
Dearborn, MI $100,000+
Framingham, MA $100,000+
Fremont, CA $100,000+
Garden Grove, CA $100,000+
Hayward, CA $100,000+
Hemet, CA $100,000+
Irving, TX $100,000+
Mountain View, CA $100,000+
New Rochelle, NY $100,000+
Oakland, CA $100,000+
Palmdale, CA $100,000+
Pleasanton, CA $100,000+
Providence, RI $100,000+
Redwood City, CA $100,000+
San Francisco, CA $100,000+
San Jose, CA $100,000+
San Mateo, CA $100,000+
Sunnyvale, CA $100,000+
Sunrise Manor, NV $100,000+
Thousand Oaks, CA $100,000+
Torrance, CA $100,000+
The Woodlands, TX $100,000+
Kent, WA $99,170
Vacaville, CA $95,951
Clovis, CA $95,395
Plymouth, MI $94,738
Tracy, CA $93,946
Irvine, CA $92,478
Grand Prarie, TX $90,075
Highlands Ranch, CO $92,036
San Marcos, CA $91,737
Camden, NJ $90,638
Cary, NC $90,635
Simi Valley, CA $91,574
Redondo Beach, CA $90,373
Carlsbad, CA $90,167
Mission Viejo, CA $90,104
Napa, CA $89,146
Murrieta, CA $88,445
Arlington, VA $88,297
Daly City, CA $88,064
Livermore, CA $87,915
Hoover, AL $87,629
Fontana, CA $87,154
Moreno Valley, CA $85,991
Frisco, TX $85,675
Temecula, CA $85,607
Newport Beach, CA $85,121
Quincy, MA $84,808
Lynn, MA $84,681
Visalia, CA $84,188
San Buenaventura, CA $82,817
Fairfield, CA $82,147
Long Beach, CA $81,656
Paradise, NV $81,642
Carrollton, TX $81,165
Sunrise, FL $80,753
Salinas, CA $80,490
Boston, MA $80,374
Anaheim, CA $80,144
Toms River, NJ $80,047
Ontario, CA $80,032
New Britain, CT $80,022

Major Cities
Seattle, WA $71,601
Sacramento, CA $70,145
Chicago, IL $67,544
New York, NY $62,220
Washington, DC $60,066
Kansas City, MO $56,953
San Diego, CA $56,784
Cincinnati, OH $56,555
Columbus, OH $56,526
Denver, CO $56,404
Los Angeles, CA $56,181
Milwaukee, WI $56,146
Philadelphia, PA $56,049
Las Vegas, NV $54,749
Minneapolis, MN $52,065
Memphis, TN $50,480
Houston, TX $50,239
Pittsburgh, PA $51,559
Dallas, TX $50,191
New Orleans, LA $49,465
Miami, FL $47,933
Cleveland, OH $46,713
Portland, OR $46,705
Phoenix, AZ $42,963
Charlotte, NC $42,069
Ft Worth, TX $40,842
Atlanta, GA $40,067
Nashville, TN $39,633
San Antonio, TX $37,381
Indianapolis, IN $37,015
St Louis, MO $34,194
Austin, TX $32,310

[Central Illinois 1]

We're looking at maybe moving to SF or Marin and I can tell you that you are probably looking at paying $600K - $1 million for anything marginally nice there. So, what we might do (and what you might want to consider) is to buy or hold onto any property that you might have in WI, rent that property out for a supplemental income or at least generate enough cash to pay the mortgage and taxes for that property (which you can probably do in most midwestern markets - you probably can't do this in most CA markets) and rent in SF. That way, a person still has a real estate investment in tact in order to build equity and maybe even move back to or sell after retirement. This is what we're maybe looking at doing with a family income of around $130K per year. Obviously, you are still throwing money away on rent, but the upside is that you can probably live comfortably in SF this way (paying out maybe $3K per month on renting versus $5-8K per month if you buy) and are hopefully recovering a portion of your rent back through building equity in your midwesteren investment. I'm not saying its an optimal strategy, but it may be a feasable strategy if you don't have alot of extra $$$ stashed away.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by City Boy

I think SFPD pay's their officers 65k Per year. OPD pays 90K per year but are no longer hiring I believe.

Starting salary is 66K but goes to 90k within 5 years. I'm willing to bet that's just base salary, which doesn't include opportunities for overtime etc, not to mention cheap health insurance premiums and fat pensions, which private sector workers at that salary do not get.

It's entirely possible to live in SF on 66K a year. It's really about realistic expectations. If you expect to live in a 4BR house with a yard, then no. But if you are happy to rent a studio or 1BR apartment, you'll be fine.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Starting salary is 66K but goes to 90k within 5 years. I'm willing to bet that's just base salary, which doesn't include opportunities for overtime etc, not to mention cheap health insurance premiums and fat pensions, which private sector workers at that salary do not get.

It's entirely possible to live in SF on 66K a year. It's really about realistic expectations. If you expect to live in a 4BR house with a yard, then no. But if you are happy to rent a studio or 1BR apartment, you'll be fine.

Yeah that's really good. OPD was starting at 90K but you needed at least 1 year police experience. They also had a 20K signing bonus and housing down payment assistance. Not to mention the overtime which would take most of the officers well into the 100k range. I remember hundreds of people applying for this. Not sure how many they accepted because they claim there is still a shortage.