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Allentown 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.
Allentown Police Department starts at $72,607 a year — about $34.91 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,922 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,467 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isAllentown Police Department reported 215 sworn officers and 22 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 127,494.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. 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 Allentown says about itself
The mission of the Allentown Police Department is to reduce crime and contribute to the safety of those we are sworn to serve and protect through collaboration with our diverse community. We will strive to be the most professional police organization, serving with honor and integrity, while adhering to the pillars of procedural justice.
What Allentown does
Allentown Police Department polices Pennsylvania's third-largest city from the Public Safety Building on Hamilton Street, operating around the clock every day of the year. Its patrol division holds most of the department's sworn members and is organised into four platoons providing 24/7 coverage, working across four districts — Center City, South, East and West — each platoon under a lieutenant with the division under a captain. Patrol officers answer calls for service, enforce traffic and criminal law, and investigate suspicious activity. The department also runs its own police academy, a 919-hour training programme for municipal police officers covering twenty subjects with both academic and practical components.
Shifts at Allentown
Allentown's patrol division is organised into four platoons providing 24/7 coverage across four city districts — Center City, South, East and West — each platoon under a lieutenant.
Four platoons covering the clock means your hours, your district and the people around you all move together. BlueShifts holds your pattern and lets you share it, so the people who need to know when you are on can see it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Allentown 2026 final budget / wage schedule — open the source document
Current 2026 City wage schedule gives Patrol Officer Year 1 at $72,607. The first-year officer step is used. Class: Patrol Officer / Police Officer. Trainee class: Current City wage schedule supplies the first-year sworn officer step used for entry. City Police budget and wage materials classify Police Officers as sworn Police Department personnel.
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.
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How this level compares
Where Allentown 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 | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| 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 $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Allentown starts at $72,607, so $4,467 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Allentown Police Department officer make?
Allentown Police Department starts a new officer on $72,607 a year, about $34.91 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 City of Allentown 2026 final budget / wage schedule.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #6 of 25 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 19 pay less, 5 pay more in the state — and #785 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,922 above, and against other municipal agencies $4,467 above.
What shifts do Allentown Police Department officers work?
Allentown's patrol division is organised into four platoons providing 24/7 coverage across four city districts — Center City, South, East and West — each platoon under a lieutenant. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Allentown 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 PA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Allentown | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$30,814 | #94 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$17,555 | #266 |
| 3 | Penn Hills Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $85,919 | +$13,312 | #339 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$480 | #756 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$44 | #782 |
| 7 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | −$273 | #794 |
| 8 | Bethlehem Police Department | Municipal | 136 | $69,870 | −$2,737 | #953 |
| 9 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | −$3,655 | #995 |
| 10 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | −$9,375 | #1,369 |
| 11 | Northampton County Sheriff's Department | County | 59 | $60,606 | −$12,001 | #1,528 |
| 12 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | −$14,263 | #1,655 |
| 13 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | −$14,507 | #1,673 |
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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