Quick answer: The Greenville metro employs about 300 police and detective supervisors (BLS OEWS, May 2025), and licensing is set at the state level, through your state peace officer standards and training commission.
Compare police and public safety administration programs enrolling now:
Licensing is a state matter, not a city one. Sworn officers are certified by a state peace-officer standards and training commission, not by a degree, and promotion to sergeant or above is governed by the employing agency’s own process. What a degree does here is satisfy the educational requirement many agencies attach to command ranks and to federal law enforcement hiring. Requirements differ agency by agency as well as state by state.
See the South Carolina licensing and pay overview for the statewide picture, and confirm current requirements with your state peace officer standards and training commission.
Schools in our database near this area, ranked by BOC Score. The list favors schools with a related program on record, but program availability and delivery format change, so confirm directly with any school that it currently offers the program you want.
This page lists 10 schools within 96 miles, closest group first, then ordered by BOC Score with the highest at the top. 9 of them carry a score. 1 does not have enough federal outcome data to score, and appears last rather than being hidden.
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal about the institution rather than about this subject. Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives in the Greenville area earn a median $73,700 per year, below the national median of $106,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
| Metric | Greenville metro | South Carolina | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $73,700 | $73,700 | $106,040 |
| 10th percentile | $57,240 | $56,750 | $63,350 |
| 25th percentile | $60,290 | $60,960 | $81,860 |
| 75th percentile | $96,850 | $96,000 | $132,620 |
| 90th percentile | $102,640 | $118,240 | $165,110 |
| Employment | 300 | 1,560 | 154,610 |
| Location quotient | 0.69 | - | 1.00 |
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Metro figures cover the Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC metropolitan statistical area.
The Greenville median of $73,700 is below the national median of $106,040, and level with the South Carolina statewide median of $73,700 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The metro’s location quotient of 0.69 means police and detective supervisors are less concentrated here than in the average U.S. labor market (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Higher concentration generally means more employers competing for the same people, and an easier job change later.
Command positions exist where the agencies are. Metro population, the number of municipal departments and the presence of state or federal offices all drive demand.
| Metro area | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Charleston | $81,800 | 340 |
| Columbia | $73,450 | 260 |
| Spartanburg | $71,140 | 110 |
Figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Wage and employment figures describe the occupation as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not the graduates of any particular program, and individual outcomes may vary. Licensing rules change; confirm current requirements with the responsible state board before enrolling.
The median annual wage for police and detective supervisors in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC metro area is $73,700, below the national median of $106,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC metro area employs about 300 police and detective supervisors (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Licensing is handled at state level rather than by city. Sworn officers are certified by a state peace-officer standards and training commission, not by a degree, and promotion to sergeant or above is governed by the employing agency's own process. What a degree does here is satisfy the educational requirement many agencies attach to command ranks and to federal law enforcement hiring. Requirements differ agency by agency as well as state by state. Confirm current requirements with your state peace officer standards and training commission.
The academic portion of these programs is widely available online for working adults, while labs, clinical hours or supervised field work are completed in person. Check that the program's accreditation satisfies your state peace officer standards and training commission.
The Greenville metro median is $73,700 against a statewide median of $73,700 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Compare that gap with the difference in living costs before treating it as a raise.
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
