Why do police officers get paid so much less than a professional basketball player?

Answer 1

Society rewards people in proportion to how much they value their services - so the contribution of police officers, firemen, food inspectors, highway maintenance crews, water works operators brain surgeons, nurses and so on are obviously more valuable than the contribution of sports figures. Then again a person who works more than forty hours a week to support his family in a low paying job know in his heart that he is worthless compared to a sports figure who earns more in year than he earns in his lifetime.

Answer 2

Several reasons; however, the primary is that there are a lot more police officers than professional athletes. If you have more people on the payroll (especially government payroll), you have to pay everyone less in order to account for the money spent.

Another reason is that police officers are paid by the government, while athletes are paid by a wealthy private industry.

Answer 3

Police officers do not have professional talent agents and marketers.