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Comment by ghodith | Hacker News Reader

Can NYPD police officers even reasonably afford living in NYC?

Indeed.com reports an average salary of 82k a year for NYPD officers, 49% above what it considers the average annual income in the US.

I recently looked into moving to NYC and was shocked to see prices similar to my middle of nowhere, significantly lower quality city. I could work in a pizzeria and live in NYC, this "it's too expensive" is really a suburban view of the sqft.

So why don't the civil servants making four times as much armed with lethal weapons live there?

Frankly, I'm amazed they consider it worth the commute to live outside the city.

which doesn't include the overtime (which for nypd was 2.2 billion last year https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/overtime-overview/ )

It seems to be a policy thing across the nation to have police not live in the communities they police. Part of it I'm sure is some amount of fear of retribution but I think it's really to avoid the officers from developing empathy towards the community members. I recall years ago my roommate working at a fast food restaurant and he advanced to manager level and they immediately moved him from the store he worked at to another to make sure he was more detached with his underlings and it seems like a similar tactic.

It's more a reflection of the general trend for middle-class folks in the US to flee to the suburbs, plus the fact that a cop job generally makes one middle-class (in both directions: the weeding process of getting hired tends to exclude the lower classes, and the pay scale tends to make one able to afford a middle-class dwelling arrangement).

Not only USA.

> I could work in a pizzeria and live in NYC, this "it's too expensive" is really a suburban view of the sqft.

Not everyone enjoys living in a shoe box or having a dozen roommates, for instance, and not everyone enjoys living in big cities either. Suburbs are amazing, despite what all the big city folks will tell you.

$82k a year in NYC is not amazing by any stretch. Could you realistically work in a pizzeria ($30k-$50k) and have a fulfilled life? Of course - but you will not be living well. There is a difference.

> 49% above what it considers the average annual income in the US.

You're comparing one of the highest cost of living areas with a national average. That's a very wrong comparison, and conclusion to make.

Yes[1]. Millions of people survive in this city on salaries far below the average (and even starting) NYPD salaries, even before you factor in overtime.

[1]: https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/careers/police-officers/po-ben...

Police officers are some of the most well paid workers in the country, they make insane amount off overtime on top of already comfortable salaries

and get a well funded pension with many cops retiring in their late 40s to early 50s.

yeah they get paid a decent middle class salary. Can they afford a nice apartment in the West Village? No. Can they afford a nice 3BR/2BA in a decent neighborhood in Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx/Staten Island if their partner is also a civil servant like a teacher? I think so yes.

(not that teachers shouldn't get paid more, they should)

Many NYPD officers own super cars and have unusually high salaries. They leech money off the communities they lord over. They are an organized gang of criminals.

This is not unique to the NYPD. Without dox'ing myself I have first-hand experience working with a police officer who drove a GT-R worth more than they made in a year on paper. Maybe he had family money, maybe he had saved a bunch of money from earlier in his career getting overtime on the street. But it certainly wasn't a good look regardless.

If you consider Staten as part of the city, then yeah :/

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