What's better, NARC or SWAT?

Swat makes more money. The amount will vary from area to area depending on the prevailing socioeconomic status of the area. From what I could gather, narcotics officers are not a huge bump over any other officer at the police station. It seems that most narcotics officers do very little “dangerous” work and have less field work than a traffic officer would. You could be a “narcotics officer” and be in charge of the DARE program or some other such simple of a job. SWAT team members are specialized and highly trained. More training = more income. But face it, the income opportunities for either such a career are highly limited and can be quite less satisfying when one finds that their job risking their life everyday makes the same as the manager of the local GAP. Public service positions have some of the best benefits out there, however. So the income of any such position is usually added to the benefits it offers, and in this case it would be very nice I believe.

You really need to find out from the area you are thinking on applying. If you live outside of a metro area and can commute to that area, then do so. Metro areas pay more for these jobs. (With a few exceptions of communities that have above average income levels)