New Jersey cops now earn a median salary of more than six figures, state treasury data shows.

An NJ Advance Media analysis of public employee salary data found that the median salary for more than 19,000 municipal police officers was $105,106 as of the end of 2016.

That's an increase of about $14,400, or 16 percent, from what it was seven years ago when The Star-Ledger did the same analysis.

The analysis also showed that 60 percent of municipal police officers made at least $100,000 in 2016 - up from 30 percent in 2009.

The data also shows that the towns with the highest median salaries were wealthier suburban towns with very little crime and higher costs of living, and were mostly in Bergen County.

For example, officers in Saddle River were paid a median salary of $155,508 - the highest in the state. Saddle River is a town of just over 3,000 residents with a median household income of about $121,026, one that only had two violent crimes in 2015.

In some of the municipalities with the highest median police salaries, the disparity between police and civilian income was stark.

Englewood, for instance, has a median household income of $75,074. Englewood cops, however, were paid a median salary of almost twice that amount --$142,561.

The median household income in New Jersey is $72,222, according to the U.S. Census.

Click here or scroll to the bottom of this page to look through our database and find out the median salary for police officers in your town

While the $14,400 spike over seven years might appear stark, Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University, says that the salaries are actually increasing at a slower rate than in the past.

If the 15.9 percent increase is divided over the last seven years, it's a 2.3 percent increase each year, he said.

"When you do the math, that's actually pretty good," Pfeiffer said.

Michael Darcy, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said that 30 years ago it wasn't uncommon to see 6 to 7 percent annual pay raises after "interest arbitration" negotiations between unions and municipalities.

Darcy said that attempts to reform the arbitration process during the 1990's did very little to curb rising salaries.

"Having lived through it, I can tell you it was getting to the point that the arbitration awards were breaking municipal budgets," Darcy said.

Patrick Colligan, president of New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, said that the reforms, especially a 2 percent cap on police salary increases set in 2011, has had a negative effect on police recruitment.

"We're definitely not seeing the same amount of people applying or the same amount of quality," he said. "We used to attract the accountant and the business majors, but they're not applying if their salary is permanently capped."

In addition, since 2011, cops contribute to health care premium costs, which in New Jersey ranks among the highest in the nation. Colligan said it's not unusual for police officers to be paying over $1,000 a month for health care.

Add in increased pension contributions and take-home pay for officers is down, he said.

Colligan said he has been seeing more and more officers leave for the private sector, and keeping salaries high is a way to combat that.

"We're not going to apologize for our salaries," he said. "Our officers have extraordinary jobs under extraordinary circumstances."

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Jersey patrol officers are the second-highest paid in the country, behind only California.

In urban communities with higher crime rates, however, officers are typically paid significantly less than their suburban counterparts.

For instance, in Paterson, where the violent crime rate is well above the state average, the median cop salary ranks 323rd in New Jersey at $95,596. Meanwhile, in nearby Paramus, where violent crime rate is about four times less, police officers earn a median of $142,523 -- the sixth highest in the state.

It's a phenomenon that's been in place for a while, according to Joseph Hannon, a municipal arbitration lawyer at the firm Genova Burns.

Wealthier communities usually have smaller police forces and enough money to afford highly-paid officers, even if those places do not see much crime.

"It's a little counterintuitive," Hannon said. "You need a lot more officers so the police force is greater in urban areas, so they have more people to spread the ... money around."

Turnover in high-crime communities like Camden can also be an issue and add to the disparity between cities and the suburbs. The median pay for Camden County Police Department, which took over policing in the city in 2013, is $50,335 - half of the state median.

The 2 percent limit on police and firefighter raises has been a flash point in the tug-of-war between unions and municipalities. The cap is set to expire at the end of this year, and it's not clear yet what will happen under the new gubernatorial administration.

The data includes base salaries of all police officers paying into the Police and Firemen's Retirement System and was released by the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits.

State, county, university and correctional officers were excluded from the dataset, in order to focus on solely municipal cops. The only exception is the Camden County Police Department.

Also, not every town has its own police force. Some towns have consolidated their police force with another municipality. And the State Police also provides either full-time or part-time policing services for about 100 municipalities.

Carla Astudillo may be reached at castudillo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @carla_astudi. Find her on Facebook.