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Bettendorf 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.
Bettendorf Police Department starts at $66,547 a year — about $31.99 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $138 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,593 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Iowa run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,827 would somewhere at average prices — $9,280 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 65 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isBettendorf Police Department reported 49 sworn officers and 6 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 40,574.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 Bettendorf says about itself
Our mission is to ensure Bettendorf remains a premier place to live by partnering with the community to enforce the law, preserve peace, protect people, and maintain public order.
What Bettendorf does
The Bettendorf Police Department polices Bettendorf, Iowa - one of the Quad Cities, on the Mississippi at the Illinois line - from 1609 State Street, under Chief of Police Doug Scott. The FBI's law enforcement employment tables put it at 49 sworn officers serving about 40,500 people. It carries specialty assignments including K9 officer, detective and school resource officer. The Department prices non-lateral hiring separately from certified laterals, who receive a $10,000 transfer bonus in four instalments, and pays shift differentials of $0.40 an hour on second shift and $0.50 on third.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. City of Bettendorf, Become a Bettendorf Police Officer — "Bettendorf Police Department Non-Lateral Hiring Pay and Benefits: Starting wage: $66,547" — open the source document
$66,547 is the City's own annual figure and no arithmetic has been applied to it. THE NON-LATERAL TEST IS SETTLED BY THE HEADING ITSELF: the Department publishes the figure under the heading 'Non-Lateral Hiring Pay and Benefits', and prices certified laterals separately with a $10,000 transfer bonus paid in four instalments of $2,500. Trainee class: NOT PRICED - the Department names no separate cadet, recruit or academy wage. Excluded from the figure: the education incentives of $550 for an associate's degree, $800 for a bachelor's and $1,000 for a master's; the shift differentials of $0.40 an hour on second shift and $0.50 on third; double pay for off-duty court time; and the lateral bonus. DISCREPANCY RECORDED RATHER THAN RESOLVED: the same page also carries 'Pay Minimum: USD $64,222/Yr.', which is $2,325 below the stated non-lateral starting wage and appears to be the applicant-tracking floor rather than the advertised rate. The heading-labelled non-lateral starting wage is the one taken. THE FIGURE CARRIES NO EFFECTIVE DATE. NEXT DOCUMENT: the City of Bettendorf pay plan or budget, which would date the step and settle the two numbers.
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 Bettendorf 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. Bettendorf starts at $66,547, so $1,593 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Bettendorf Police Department officer make?
Bettendorf Police Department starts a new officer on $66,547 a year, about $31.99 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 Bettendorf, Become a Bettendorf Police Officer — "Bettendorf Police Department Non-Lateral Hiring Pay and Benefits: Starting wage: $66,547".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #25 of 34 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 9 pay less, 24 pay more in the state — and #1,158 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $138 below, and against other municipal agencies $1,593 below.
Compare with another department
Put Bettendorf 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 Bettendorf | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$19,003 | #342 |
| 2 | Des Moines Police Department | Municipal | 367 | $84,635 | +$18,088 | #359 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | +$10,163 | #593 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | +$10,101 | #599 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | +$9,481 | #625 |
| 6 | Waterloo Police Department | Municipal | 124 | $74,776 | +$8,229 | #683 |
| 7 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | +$7,397 | #721 |
| 8 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | +$6,669 | #746 |
| 9 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | +$5,275 | #827 |
| 10 | Mason City Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $71,448 | +$4,901 | #847 |
| 11 | Dubuque County Sheriff's Office | County | 75 | $70,970 | +$4,423 | #881 |
| 12 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | +$4,324 | #889 |
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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