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Bloomington 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.
Bloomington Police Department starts at $81,234 a year — about $39.05 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,844 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $9,970 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Bloomington, IN run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $85,434 would somewhere at average prices — $4,200 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 86 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isBloomington Police Department reported 95 sworn officers and 66 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 79,948.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 Bloomington says about itself
The mission of the Bloomington Police Department is to safeguard life and property while respecting diversity, encouraging civility, solving problems, and maintaining a high standard of individual integrity and professionalism.
What Bloomington does
Bloomington says its hiring process selects candidates for probationary police officer and that officers new to law enforcement complete more than 600 hours at ILEA. New officers then complete field training before being released to perform law-enforcement duties independently.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Employer recruitment notice. Published via the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy job board. — open the source document
The source page does not state an effective date.
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 Bloomington 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. Bloomington starts at $81,234, so $9,947 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Bloomington Police Department officer make?
Bloomington Police Department starts a new officer on $81,234 a year, about $39.05 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 Employer recruitment notice. Published via the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy job board..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Indiana?
It ranks #1 of 39 agencies we have verified in Indiana — the highest in the state in the state — and #372 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,844 above, and against other municipal agencies $9,970 above.
Compare with another department
Put Bloomington 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 IN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Bloomington | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | MSD Wayne Township School Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $77,700 | −$3,534 | #464 |
| 3 | Columbus Police Department | Municipal | 88 | $74,984 | −$6,250 | #562 |
| 4 | Fishers Police Department | Municipal | 124 | $74,560 | −$6,674 | #575 |
| 5 | Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department | Municipal | — | $74,459 | −$6,775 | #581 |
| 6 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 142 | $72,539 | −$8,695 | #646 |
| 7 | West Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $72,391 | −$8,843 | #649 |
| 8 | Purdue University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $72,137 | −$9,097 | #659 |
| 9 | Carmel Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $72,000 | −$9,234 | #667 |
| 10 | Indiana State Police | State | 1,171 | $70,000 | −$11,234 | #769 |
| 11 | Indiana Gaming Commission — Enforcement Division | State | — | $70,000 | −$11,234 | #770 |
| 12 | Hamilton County Sheriff's Office | County | 62 | $70,000 | −$11,234 | #775 |
| 13 | Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office | County | 67 | $68,339 | −$12,895 | #845 |
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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