Home › Police pay › Massachusetts › Boston Police Department
Boston 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.
Boston Police Department starts at $71,861 a year — about $34.55 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,471 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $597 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Massachusetts run about 6% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $67,949 somewhere at average prices — $3,912 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 152 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. 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 isBoston Police Department reported 2,172 sworn officers and 585 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 3.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 671,262.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 Boston
Boston Police Department officer pay is set by the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Boston and the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, and the City publishes the resulting salary charts. Base pay advances by time served through 1st, 2nd and 3rd Year steps before moving onto longevity steps at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years. On top of base the schedule carries a night shift differential, an $800 annual uniform allowance, holiday pay and specialist ratings for particular assignments. Massachusetts' Quinn-style education incentives add a further 10 percent for an associate degree, 20 percent for a bachelor's and 25 percent for a master's, so two officers on the same step can be paid materially differently.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 18 August 2026. City of Boston BPPA Executive Order and Salary Scale 2020-2024, Police Officer Salary Charts (Days, 1st Year, base), as amended by the BPPA Memorandum of Agreement of 24 October 2025 — open the source document
The City publishes a Police Officer salary chart for each contract year. The entry rate is the 1st Year DAYS row of the plain chart, whose weekly BASE is $1,354.84 from the pay period beginning 6 July 2024. The one-year BPPA Memorandum of Agreement ratified 29 October 2025, covering 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, raises every officer 2%, giving $1,381.94 a week and $71,860.88 a year. TWO TRAPS IN THIS DOCUMENT, both checked here. First, the chart's 'Annual' column is NOT base pay: at 1st Year it reads $81,046.86, which bundles the shift differential, the $800 uniform allowance and 14 holidays - proved exactly by 1,360.84 x 52 + 800 + 14 x 361.47. Second, each contract year prints one plain chart followed by six SPECIALIST RATING charts at $6.00, $8.00, $10.00, $13.50, $19.50 and $40.00 a week; every specialist figure is the base plus its rating, so the plain chart is the only base. The plain 2024 base is $1,354.84 and the $40.00 chart reads $1,394.84, exactly forty dollars higher. Excluded as add-ons: the shift differential, specialist ratings, the uniform allowance, holiday pay, the Quinn Bill education incentives of 10%, 20% and 25% for an associate, bachelor's or master's degree, hazardous duty pay (raised to 8.75% by the same MOA), TCAP, longevity and detail work.
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.
Entry pay, 2020–2025
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
How this level compares
Where Boston 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. Boston starts at $71,861, so $574 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Boston Police Department officer make?
Boston Police Department starts a new officer on $71,861 a year, about $34.55 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 Boston BPPA Executive Order and Salary Scale 2020-2024, Police Officer Salary Charts (Days, 1st Year, base), as amended by the BPPA Memorandum of Agreement of 24 October 2025.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Massachusetts?
It ranks #5 of 9 agencies we have verified in Massachusetts — 4 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #673 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,471 above, and against other municipal agencies $597 above.
Compare with another department
Put Boston 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 MA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Boston | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $95,568 | +$23,707 | #140 |
| 2 | Nantucket Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $92,144 | +$20,283 | #178 |
| 3 | Massachusetts State Police | State | 2,565 | $80,213 | +$8,352 | #407 |
| 4 | Tufts University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 52 | $75,962 | +$4,101 | #521 |
| 6 | West Stockbridge Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,797 | −$5,064 | #928 |
| 7 | Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs — Environmental Police | State | — | $65,447 | −$6,414 | #992 |
| 8 | Brockton Police Department | Municipal | 179 | $63,971 | −$7,890 | #1,060 |
| 9 | Melrose Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $61,511 | −$10,350 | #1,172 |
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
