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Albemarle County Police Department entry pay
What this agency pays a new officer to start, and how that compares with the rest of the country.
Entry pay onlyEvery salary here is what an officer is paid on day one, out of the academy — base pay on a 40-hour week, with no overtime, shift differential, specialty or education pay counted. Nobody stays on it.
Albemarle County Police Department starts at $60,817 a year — about $29.24 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,573 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $4,557 below the median for county agencies.
How big the department isAlbemarle County Police Department reported 220 sworn officers and 23 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025.No rate is shown: this agency does not police a single population the FBI publishes a figure for. Reporting to the FBI is voluntary, so a count can reflect a partial return as easily as a small agency, and the FBI asks that agencies not be compared on staffing. Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, 2025.
What Albemarle County says about itself
The mission of the Albemarle County Police Department is to provide for the safety and security of all people, while protecting individual rights and building trust in our diverse communities through quality service.
What Albemarle County does
The Albemarle County Police Department provides for the safety and security of county residents while protecting individual rights and building community trust through quality police service. The department provides patrol, investigations, traffic enforcement and community-policing services
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Albemarle County Police Department and Join Our Team pages — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 2026.
Entry-level base salary only. Overtime, bonuses, education incentives, shift
differentials, locality pay and lateral rates are excluded, so most officers earn more
than this.
How this level compares
Where Albemarle County sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.
| Level | Lowest | Median | Highest | Agencies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| Federal | $70,477 | $73,502 | $86,530 | 5 |
| Territory | $16,640 | $28,236 | $43,354 | 9 |
Federal agencies pay the most to start
The middle federal agency starts at $73,502 — about $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Albemarle County starts at $60,817, so $4,557 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Albemarle County Police Department officer make?
Albemarle County Police Department starts a new officer on $60,817 a year, about $29.24 an hour on a 2,080-hour year. That is base salary before overtime, bonuses, education incentives, shift differentials and locality pay, so most serving officers earn more. The figure comes from Albemarle County Police Department and Join Our Team pages.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Virginia?
It ranks #16 of 36 agencies we have verified in Virginia — 20 pay less, 15 pay more in the state — and #1,204 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,573 below, and against other county agencies $4,557 below.
Compare with another department
Put Albemarle County Police Department side by side with any other agency on the site — the two salaries, what each is worth once local prices are counted, and which comes out ahead.
The agencies either side of it
Other agencies in VA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Albemarle | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlington County Police Department | County | 299 | $90,012 | +$29,195 | #215 |
| 2 | Falls Church Police Department | Municipal | 32 | $76,400 | +$15,583 | #496 |
| 3 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 264 | $75,000 | +$14,183 | #560 |
| 4 | Fairfax County Police Department | County | 1,390 | $74,035 | +$13,218 | #593 |
| 5 | Prince William County Police Department | County | 656 | $74,000 | +$13,183 | #595 |
| 6 | Loudoun County Sheriff's Office | County | 648 | $70,955 | +$10,138 | #727 |
| 7 | Leesburg Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $68,500 | +$7,683 | #834 |
| 8 | Prince William County Sheriff's Office | County | 656 | $66,596 | +$5,779 | #941 |
| 9 | Henrico County Police Division | County | 628 | $65,959 | +$5,142 | #968 |
| 10 | Fairfax County Sheriff's Office | County | 433 | $64,997 | +$4,180 | #1,025 |
| 11 | Richmond Police Department | Municipal | 608 | $63,360 | +$2,543 | #1,091 |
| 12 | Hanover County Sheriff's Office | County | 247 | $63,345 | +$2,528 | #1,093 |
Base pay is only part of the year
Whatever the figure above, the rotation is what decides your year — which weekends you lose, when the changeovers land, what you can plan around. Save yours once and BlueShifts shows it a year ahead, with the off-duty jobs you take and what each one paid.
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