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Ames 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.
Ames Police Department starts at $66,794 a year — about $32.11 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,596 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $4,470 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Ames, IA run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,193 would somewhere at average prices — $8,399 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 69 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for this metropolitan area, from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024. The salary above is what the employer publishes; this line is our arithmetic on it, and nothing on this site is ranked on it.
How big the department isAmes Police Department reported 52 sworn officers and 24 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 0.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 69,676.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 Ames says about itself
The Ames Police Department is dedicated to service to our residents and our community.
What Ames does
Ames Police Department employs municipal Police Officers under the City's Police pay plan.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Ames 2025-2026 Pay Plan — open the source document
Current official City pay plan lists Police Officer A, 0-12 months, at $66,794 annually / $32.30 hourly. The first officer step is used. Class: Police Officer. Trainee class: Current City Police pay plan lists Police Officer 0-12 months as the first officer step. City Police pay plan classifies Police Officer as a Police Department position.
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 Ames 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. Ames starts at $66,794, so $4,493 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Ames Police Department officer make?
Ames Police Department starts a new officer on $66,794 a year, about $32.11 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 Ames 2025-2026 Pay Plan.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #20 of 28 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 8 pay less, 19 pay more in the state — and #929 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,596 below, and against other municipal agencies $4,470 below.
Compare with another department
Put Ames 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 IA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Ames | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$18,756 | #281 |
| 2 | Des Moines Police Department | Municipal | 367 | $84,635 | +$17,841 | #297 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | +$9,916 | #486 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | +$9,854 | #491 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | +$9,234 | #516 |
| 6 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | +$7,150 | #597 |
| 7 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | +$6,422 | #616 |
| 8 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | +$5,028 | #678 |
| 9 | Mason City Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $71,448 | +$4,654 | #698 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | +$4,077 | #732 |
| 11 | Iowa Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Law Enforcement | State | — | $70,574 | +$3,780 | #742 |
| 12 | Davenport Police Department | Municipal | 143 | $70,322 | +$3,528 | #752 |
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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