By Megan Wells, Police1 Contributor
Just because you can tout a high salary doesn’t mean your paycheck is enough to cover the cost of everyday expenses like housing or groceries. How far you can stretch your paycheck is a direct reflection of how much everything else in your world costs. Police1 set out on a mission to find what states give the best chance for police officers to make a good living.
Methodology:
- We took into consideration the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center Cost of Living Data, which compares the average cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health and miscellaneous costs in each state. This information paints a picture of relative affordability. Unfortunately, there was no cost of living data for New Mexico, so the rankings were out of 49 states: First place is the most affordable, and 49th place is the least affordable (Hawaii, we’re looking at you).
- We also took into consideration salary data as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find out what the average salary of a police officer is from place to place.