What Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers earn in Cass County, MO
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $62,960: the median annual pay for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $30.27 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $68,850, which is 9.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 4,820 people working in this occupation across the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Cass County, MO has roughly 110,773 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $47,120 a year ($22.65 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $95,920 or more ($46.12 an hour). That is a gap of $48,800 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $55,680 at the 25th percentile and $82,920 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.0 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO is $30.27. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $62,960, and the same salary is $5,247 a month before taxes or about $2,422 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $24.35 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers this way: "Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances. Perform a combination of the following duties: patrol a specific area; direct traffic; issue traffic summonses; investigate accidents; apprehend and arrest suspects, or serve legal processes of courts. Includes police officers working at educational institutions."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts"; "Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations"; "Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities"; "Render aid to accident survivors and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries".
Job outlook for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 693,200 jobs in 2025 to 717,300 in 2035, a change of +3.5%, in line with the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 51,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.4% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $76,210 for this occupation; the Cass County, MO median of $62,960 is 17.4% below it.
How pay in Cass County, MO compares
Compared with the Missouri average
Pay for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO is in line with the statewide figure: $62,960 locally against an employment-weighted Missouri average of $62,471, a difference of only $489 (0.8%). Within Missouri, the highest median we track for this job is $73,240 in St. Louis County, MO.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers is $80,171 across the contiguous United States. At $62,960, Cass County, MO pays $17,211 less, which is 21.5% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Cass County, MO
Among the 550 occupations with published wages in Cass County, MO, Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers ranks number 232 by median pay, ahead of about 58% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $168,050 a year, which is $105,090 more than the median for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $62,960 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $12,321 a year, which leaves $50,639, or $4,220 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.6%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $47,210. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,427, an effective 8.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,904 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $913. FICA totals $4,816, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Missouri
Missouri income tax on this salary is $2,078 a year, or 3.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 38% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $173 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Cass County, MO
IRS Statistics of Income data for Cass County, MO show an average adjusted gross income of $84,612 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.9% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.0%, compared with the 8.6% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Cass County, MO
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Cass County, MO: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $50,639 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Cass County, MO is $1,366 a month, or $16,392 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,546 a month. For Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers, a one-bedroom absorbs 32.4% of take-home pay and 26.0% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.5% of gross pay for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Missouri residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,364 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $672, for $2,036 in total. Gasoline in Missouri averages $3.03 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,403.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $23,267 a year, 46% of take-home pay. That leaves $27,372 a year, or $2,281 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 43.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Cass County, MO
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Cass County, MO: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Cass County, MO, set beside the Missouri and national medians.
Property taxes in Cass County, MO
Homeowners in Cass County, MO pay a median of $2,504 a year in real estate taxes, 29% above the Missouri median of $1,948 and 20% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $292,400, the median tax bill is 0.86% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $62,960, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Cass County, MO
Renters in Cass County, MO pay a median gross rent of $1,205 a month in the Census survey, 17% above the Missouri median of $1,033. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,366 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $292,400, 27% above the Missouri median of $230,300. Median household income is $87,535, 24% above the Missouri median of $70,702, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.7% of that income.
Commuting in Cass County, MO
Workers in Cass County, MO who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.0 minutes each way, 19% above the Missouri average of 23.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 13.9% of workers in Cass County, MO work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers afford to live in Cass County, MO?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $62,960 that ceiling is $1,574 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,366 is $208 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $26.27 an hour; the median for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers is $30.27, which is 15% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.35 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 12.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,546 a month means $773 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,116 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $34,488.
How fast you can save
At $2,281 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers pay in Cass County, MO
What is the hourly wage for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO?
The median is $30.27 per hour, based on $62,960 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.65 at the 10th percentile to $46.12 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $62,960 becomes $50,639 a year. That is $4,220 a month, $1,948 every two weeks or $974 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO?
Total taxes are $12,321 a year, an effective rate of 19.6%: $5,427 federal income tax, $4,816 FICA and $2,078 Missouri income tax.
Is pay for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO above the Missouri average?
It is about the same. The local median of $62,960 is within 0.8% of the Missouri average of $62,471.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers salary in Cass County, MO?
A one-bedroom costs $1,366 a month against take-home pay of $4,220, which is 32.4% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,574 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Cass County, MO?
About $2,281 a month ($27,372 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $23,267 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Cass County, MO at the 30% guideline?
$26.27 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $16,392 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers is $30.27.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Missouri rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.