Home › Police pay › California › Bakersfield Police Department
Bakersfield 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.
Bakersfield Police Department starts at $72,698 a year — about $34.95 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,308 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,434 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isBakersfield Police Department reported 494 sworn officers and 207 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 420,589.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.
About Bakersfield
Bakersfield's official Police Officer classification says sworn officers protect persons and property, enforce state and local laws and ordinances, identify, deter and investigate crime, and contribute to the positive welfare of the community. The recruitment also emphasizes serving a diverse population with sensitivity, empathy and impartiality
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Bakersfield official Police Officer - Academy — open the source document
Opening 16 December 2025; continuous and current in 2026. The City lists $34.95-$42.57 hourly / $72,698.08-$88,547.68 annually. The minimum $72,698.08 is used for a brand-new academy graduate. The posting expressly accepts applicants currently enrolled in or recently graduated from a California POST-certified Basic Law Enforcement Academy
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 Bakersfield 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. Bakersfield starts at $72,698, so $1,411 above the municipal middle.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Bakersfield Police Department officer make?
Bakersfield Police Department starts a new officer on $72,698 a year, about $34.95 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 Bakersfield official Police Officer - Academy.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #202 of 222 agencies we have verified in California — 20 pay less, 201 pay more in the state — and #641 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,308 above, and against other municipal agencies $1,434 above.
Compare with another department
Put Bakersfield 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Bakersfield | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$90,921 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$76,745 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$75,244 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$71,305 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$70,398 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$68,326 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$67,042 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$66,267 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$65,563 | #9 |
| 10 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$59,565 | #10 |
| 11 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$59,338 | #11 |
| 12 | Campbell Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $131,747 | +$59,049 | #12 |
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.
Scan to install
