JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Law enforcement fulfills many important roles throughout the state, but a recent report shows they are not paid as well as their peers across the country.
According to USAFacts , police officers in Jackson and Hattiesburg are the second and third lowest-paid officers nationally among 383 metro areas. Other areas across the state, including the Gulfport and Memphis metro, rank in the bottom half of metropolitan areas nationally for median salary. USAFacts sources its data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , Office of Personnel Management , Department of Justice and Census Bureau .
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The annual median wage of Mississippi’s police officers is also the lowest nationally at $37,240. Even after adjusting for the cost of living, Mississippi still has the lowest median wage for police officers nationwide at $43,002. Below are the numbers for officer median wages across Mississippi in 2022, the year with the latest data.