Serving as the top cop or fire chief in a big city comes with a lot of expectations — waves of mayhem to prevent, thousands of employees to oversee and all of the politics that come with being one of the most recognizable figures on the street.
In return, most police and fire chiefs also can expect to be well compensated, even if they aren’t working in one of the nation’s largest cities. A Business Journals analysis of major-city payrolls nationally found the average police chief received about $203,000 in total compensation last year, while the average fire chief received about $180,000. In many cases, top-ranking police and fire officials were the best-paid in their respective cities, regardless of a municipality's size or frequency of emergencies.