By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In part 4 of our on-going wage series we now turn to the rankings of County Deputy and City Police Officer rankings throughout the State. This series always produces both expected and unexpected information about the relative standing of jurisdictions.
In this article will provide you some discussion of the wage rankings but for the full rankings, you’ll need to explore our Premium Website. If you’re not currently a Premium Website subscriber, you can review our services at Cline and Casillas Premium Information Services and contact Donna Steinmetz at Cline and Casillas and she’ll explain how you can become one. For current premium subscribers below are links to some of the additional available Police and Deputy Wage Rank reports:
Police Officer 5 Year No Degree 2015 Ranking
Police Officer 25 Year BA 2015 Ranking
For County Deputies, there’s no surprise that King County remains at number 1, although the wage gap between Number 2, Pierce County, nearly $1300 a month at the reported maximum 25 year BA level has dropped from a high of $1500 two years ago. Somewhat surprising at the 5 year level, the number 4 jurisdiction is not Snohomish but Benton County. At the lower end of the 5 year rank, Jefferson County has crept up to number 9 above Spokane County, while at the 25 Year BA level Jefferson County falls back to 14th.
Some small counties have crept up the list. Most noteworthy in that context is San Juan County which ranks 4th on the 25 year BA pay level. Clark and Kitsap Counties have slid a bit on the list with as they do not have current labor agreements and are using 2012 wages in this 2015 wage survey. Below is a listing of the top 10 ranked Counties. For the full listing including the 5 year and 25 Year BA ranking of all 39 counties, wages and wage date see the Cline and Casillas premium website.
| 5 Year No Degree Rank 2015 | Counties |
| 1 | King County |
| 2 | Pierce County |
| 3 | Thurston County |
| 4 | Benton County |
| 5 | Snohomish County |
| 6 | Yakima County |
| 7 | Whatcom County |
| 8 | San Juan County |
| 9 | Jefferson County |
| 10 | Spokane County |
A review of the city police officer rankings also shows many of the same both expected and unexpected results.
Not surprising, Seattle tops both the 5 year no degree and the 25 Year BA list. Unusual is the fact that on the 5 year no degree list the only other of the top 10 populated cities is Federal Way. This may be in part because of the top 10 populated cities in the state only 5 have 2015 wages settled. Some previous high paid jurisdictions like Redmond, Kent and Vancouver now lag far behind their historic rankings. And Spokane continues to fall behind, now ranked only 23 despite being the 2nd largest City in the State. While 109th populated city Black Diamond is ranked second for 5 year no degree wage. This indicates how factors such as Assessed Valuation per capita and not solely population play into wage settlements. Below is a list of the top 10 of 131 Washington cities ranked by their 5 year no degree wage.
| 5 Year No Degree Rank 2015 | Cities |
| 1 | Seattle |
| 2 | Black Diamond |
| 3 | Mercer Island |
| 4 | Bothell |
| 5 | Issaquah |
| 6 | Auburn |
| 7 | Federal Way |
| 8 | Mountlake Terrace |
| 9 | Kennewick |
| 10 | Tukwila |
For the specific wage numbers, please review the Charts available on our Premium Website. We report the wages for purposes of this summary survey at two levels, 5 year No Degree and 25 Year BA and indicated the wage and last contract year that wage is reported from.
We have performed a more in-depth analysis of these results and compared them to important contributing factors such as Population and Tax Base. In some of the articles ahead in this series, we’ll undertake a detailed review of how those factors may contribute to your wage ranking.
