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Belleair 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.
Belleair Police Department starts at $65,594 a year — about $31.54 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,091 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $2,546 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Florida run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $63,428 somewhere at average prices — $2,165 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 122 against a national average of 100, where goods are 98. 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 isBelleair Police Department reported 21 sworn officers and 2 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 4.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 4,699.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 Belleair says about itself
The Belleair Police Department is committed to safeguarding the lives and property of the people we serve with the highest degree of honor, professionalism, and integrity; to reduce the fear of crime, solve problems, and enhance public safety while striving to improve the quality of life through service.
What Belleair does
The Belleair Police Department is the municipal force for the Town of Belleair, a town of about 4,270 residents in Pinellas County laid out around the Belleview Hotel that Henry B. Plant built in 1896. Under a chief and a captain it fields three sergeants and around fifteen full and part-time officers with civilian office staff, provides round-the-clock policing, administers the town's special and temporary activity permits, and operates a free house check programme for residents away on holiday or in hospital. Its officers belong to the town's own Belleair Police Retirement Plan.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 30 August 2026. Article 18 Section 2, Pay Plan, Agreement between the Town of Belleair and the Sun Coast Police Benevolent Association, Inc., 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2028 — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 October 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.
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How this level compares
Where Belleair 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. Belleair starts at $65,594, so $2,546 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Belleair Police Department officer make?
Belleair Police Department starts a new officer on $65,594 a year, about $31.54 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 Article 18 Section 2, Pay Plan, Agreement between the Town of Belleair and the Sun Coast Police Benevolent Association, Inc., 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2028.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #100 of 303 agencies we have verified in Florida — 203 pay less, 99 pay more in the state — and #1,214 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,091 below, and against other municipal agencies $2,546 below.
Compare with another department
Put Belleair 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 FL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Belleair | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $91,007 | +$25,413 | #244 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$16,129 | #433 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$15,406 | #459 |
| 4 | Hillsboro Beach Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,954 | +$15,360 | #461 |
| 5 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$15,318 | #464 |
| 6 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$14,406 | #496 |
| 7 | Indian Creek Village Public Safety Department | Municipal | 10 | $79,850 | +$14,256 | #500 |
| 8 | Sunrise Police Department | Municipal | 190 | $79,071 | +$13,477 | #520 |
| 9 | Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,720 | $78,828 | +$13,234 | #526 |
| 10 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$12,962 | #536 |
| 11 | Longboat Key Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $78,430 | +$12,836 | #543 |
| 12 | Manalapan Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $78,280 | +$12,686 | #549 |
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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