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Athens-Clarke 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.
Athens-Clarke County Police Department starts at $59,287 a year — about $28.50 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,103 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $11,977 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in rural Georgia run about 13% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $68,159 would somewhere at average prices — $8,872 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 53 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. Based on price levels for the non-metropolitan part of this state, because this agency is outside every metro 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 isAthens-Clarke County Police Department reported 235 sworn officers and 65 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 129,208.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 Athens-Clarke County says about itself
The mission of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department is to preserve life and reduce crime through continued enforcement of the law and sustained, meaningful partnerships across the community.
What Athens-Clarke County does
Athens-Clarke County says its officers protect life and property, enforce federal, state and local laws, conduct criminal investigations, respond to emergency calls, apprehend offenders, and use community-oriented and constitutional policing. The department emphasizes reducing both crime and fear of crime while protecting constitutional rights.
Shifts at Athens-Clarke County
Officers in the East and West Patrol Divisions work a 12-hour watch, beginning at 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
A 6-to-6 twelve is the same clock every tour but never the same week. BlueShifts lays the whole cycle out ahead and keeps court dates and off-duty jobs on the same calendar.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County Police Officer posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 17 December 2025.
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.
Counted as both municipal and county. It appears on both lists and is counted ONCE in the national totals, so no figure here is double-counted.
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How this level compares
Where Athens-Clarke 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. Athens-Clarke County starts at $59,287, so $12,000 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Athens-Clarke County Police Department officer make?
Athens-Clarke County Police Department starts a new officer on $59,287 a year, about $28.50 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 Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County Police Officer posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #12 of 25 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 13 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #1,275 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,103 below, and against other municipal agencies $11,977 below.
What shifts do Athens-Clarke County Police Department officers work?
Officers in the East and West Patrol Divisions work a 12-hour watch, beginning at 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Athens-Clarke 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Athens-Clarke | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$12,399 | #687 |
| 2 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$5,690 | #1,027 |
| 3 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | +$4,397 | #1,072 |
| 4 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | +$4,153 | #1,086 |
| 5 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | +$3,175 | #1,135 |
| 6 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | +$2,702 | #1,156 |
| 7 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | +$1,813 | #1,190 |
| 8 | Atlanta Police Department | Municipal | 1,817 | $60,987 | +$1,700 | #1,196 |
| 9 | Snellville Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $60,905 | +$1,618 | #1,199 |
| 10 | Fulton County Sheriff's Office | County | 349 | $60,000 | +$713 | #1,240 |
| 11 | Fulton County Police Department | Municipal | 349 | $60,000 | +$713 | #1,249 |
| 13 | DeKalb County Sheriff's Office | County | 306 | $57,919 | −$1,368 | #1,327 |
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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