I think firefighter.
wtf @ the topics

As a firefighter and brother in law of a police officer I know for a fact police officers make more money!

I would think cops because of the daily exposure to danger being significantly higher, among other reasons.

firefighters kick ass!

cops just suck…

Firefighters put their lives on the line way more than cops do…....how many cops died on 9/11?

@cheeb, Does that mean that dying implies valor? Both are commendable jobs worthy of respect and honor (and high payrolls).

I have respect for firefighters, but I can’t respect a police officer.

@cheeb: The everyda risk of being shot at or stabbed is higher than the daily risk of firefighters I would think. I didn’t say it was a greater risk overall. Just day to day.

Why can’t you respect a police officer?

Even if I’m doing something wrong, if there’s a shooting at my house and a possibility of 10 guys coming back to rough the place up… I’m not calling a firefighter.

police officer
fire fighter

It seems to me like it would depend on the area and the job title.

Depends on the area. And I’d think that in the average case, the existence of volunteer fire departments would bring the average down significantly for firefighters, since there are precious few volunteer police departments.

cwilbur: i was assuming the questioner was referring to a comparison between paid firefighters vs. cops. i think it goes without saying that a volunteer anything gets paid less than a paid anything.

anyway, i know this does not answer the question but one advantage of being a firefighter is that when they’re not out on a call (and most of the time they’re not out on a call) they are in the firehouse, and they eat, cook, sleep, work out, watch tv, and study. i know a retired fireman who studied to become a plumber while he was on the job, and when he retired, he became a plumber. i also know of a dentist who did the same thing (studied to become a dentist while on down time in firehouse).

to take a guess at answering the question, i know in westchester county, NY, they just did a study of the salaries of all the employees (www.lohud.com) and the highest paid spots in the county (with the most overtime, also) were corrections officers and cops. the highest paid person in the county was a C.O. Sargeant who between $120K salary and $120K overtime made almost a quarter of a million dollars in 2007. check it out on www.lohud.com.

It may vary from city to city. Many city websites have have salary ranges that show departmental listings. Check jobs with cities and find one near you to see if they show salary ranges.