<p>$91K is not the average, it’s the median. It’s probably fairly close to the average, though, because police salaries are packed into a pretty tight range. There isn’t any group at the top of the pyramid making $20 million per year for being police chiefs, and no one makes less than the ~$40,000 starting salary. Whereas for Harvard graduates the range is enormous, from less than $40,000 to, probably, $100 million or more for hedge fund types. So the average is going to be way higher than the median.</p>
<p>(Also – why do you keep saying $91,000 plus overtime? Doesn’t the $91,000 figure include overtime? Compensation figures are usually based on total compensation, not base salary.)</p>
<p>One other point worth discussing: It’s wrong to treat police work as if it were some sort of unskilled labor. In addition to being dangerous, police work requires a lot of skill, intelligence, judgment, and training. Because the jobs are well-paid and socially respected, they are very competitive to get. The people hired usually have prior training and experience, often in the military, and they have usually come out on top on pretty tough qualification tests, both verbal/intellectual and physical. There may not be lot of Harvard grads on police forces in New Jersey, but I would bet most of the officers have college degrees. It’s really not so surprising that police officers are well paid.</p>