Home › Police pay › Vermont › Barre Town Police Department
Barre Town 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.
Barre Town Police Department starts at $61,194 a year — about $29.42 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,491 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $6,946 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Vermont run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,469 would somewhere at average prices — $1,276 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 126, where goods are 97. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single 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 isBarre Town Police Department reported 6 sworn officers and 1 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 0.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 8,043.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 Barre Town says about itself
The mission of the Barre Town Police Department is, by forming a partnership with the community, to improve the quality of life by providing the most professional service possible. In doing this, we will strive to earn the trust and confidence of the public. We are committed to protecting the lives, property and rights of the citizens, while impartially enforcing the law.
What Barre Town does
The Barre Town Police Department polices the second largest town in central Vermont, a suburban to rural bedroom community with a stable population of 7,923 that surrounds, but is separate from, the City of Barre. The Town's own posting describes a force of six full-time officers counting the chief, supplemented by per-diem officers, equipped with body cameras and Tasers, with in-house instructors for field training, firearms, K-9, Taser and use of force, and officers incentivised to gain instructor certification. Officers typically work four 10-hour shifts a week and shifts change every two months. Extra-duty work includes Thunder Road race events, school resource officer details and grant-funded DUI and occupant-protection details. The department runs a K-9 unit, re-established in 2002, and a medication collection box at the Websterville Road station.
Shifts at Barre Town
Barre Town officers typically work four 10-hour shifts a week, and shifts are changed every two months. The Town states that day, night, weekend and holiday work is required.
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
A shift that changes every two months is three or four rebuilds a year on a paper calendar. In BlueShifts you set the new pattern once when it changes and every month ahead fills itself in, holidays and all.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 1 September 2026. Town of Barre, Town Manager's Office human resources page, Police Officer, Full-Time: "Wages for full-time officers start at $29.42 per hour" — open the source document
$29.42 an hour. Officers typically work four 10-hour shifts a week, so the week is 40 hours and the year 2,080: $61,193.60. Trainee class: NO - this is the full-time officer rate, and the posting states no experience is necessary, requiring only that the candidate can meet the entry requirements of the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council academy, so prior sworn service is not required. Per-diem officers are priced separately at $23.00 an hour and are not used. The Town Manager's page is the current one and the page is live - a second posting on it closes 15 September 2026; the Police Department's own employment page still carries the superseded $26.19 rate, which is the reason the HR page is cited rather than the department page. Checked 1 September 2026. NAME TRAP: Barre Town and Barre City are separate municipalities with separate departments, and the Town's own FAQ says so.
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.
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 this level compares
Where Barre Town 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. Barre Town starts at $61,194, so $6,946 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Barre Town Police Department officer make?
Barre Town Police Department starts a new officer on $61,194 a year, about $29.42 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 Town of Barre, Town Manager's Office human resources page, Police Officer, Full-Time: "Wages for full-time officers start at $29.42 per hour".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Vermont?
It ranks #10 of 16 agencies we have verified in Vermont — 6 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #1,491 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,491 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,946 below.
What shifts do Barre Town Police Department officers work?
Barre Town officers typically work four 10-hour shifts a week, and shifts are changed every two months. The Town states that day, night, weekend and holiday work is required. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Barre Town 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 VT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Barre | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont State Police | State | 256 | $84,160 | +$22,967 | #370 |
| 2 | Burlington Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $81,653 | +$20,460 | #435 |
| 3 | Montpelier Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,870 | +$19,676 | #466 |
| 4 | Williston Police Department | Municipal | 14 | $71,032 | +$9,838 | #873 |
| 5 | Brandon Police Department | Municipal | 2 | $70,720 | +$9,526 | #899 |
| 6 | Rutland City Police Department | Municipal | — | $67,600 | +$6,406 | #1,089 |
| 7 | Colchester Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $66,560 | +$5,366 | #1,156 |
| 8 | South Burlington Police Department | Municipal | 33 | $64,668 | +$3,475 | #1,282 |
| 9 | Winooski Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $63,752 | +$2,558 | #1,333 |
| 11 | Stowe Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $60,070 | −$1,123 | #1,560 |
| 12 | Shelburne Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $59,613 | −$1,581 | #1,604 |
| 13 | Barre City Police Department | Municipal | — | $58,531 | −$2,663 | #1,651 |
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
