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Brownsville 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.
Brownsville Police Department starts at $40,903 a year — about $19.66 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $25,782 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $27,237 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Texas run about 3% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $42,143 would somewhere at average prices — $1,240 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 88, 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 isBrownsville Police Department reported 208 sworn officers and 75 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 193,321.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 Brownsville says about itself
The Brownsville Police Department is committed to providing proactive, professional and effective public safety and community service, employing integrity and fairness through community partnerships for the enhancement of the quality of life. Serving since the late 1800s, the department strives to innovate, grow and make progress towards a better future for the people of Brownsville, leveraging technology and modern-day practices including drone teams, a peer support team and a police chaplain programme.
What Brownsville does
Brownsville Police Department polices the southernmost city in Texas at the mouth of the Rio Grande, with roughly 250 sworn officers and around 140 civilian staff from headquarters on East Jackson Street. It is organised into Uniformed Services and Investigative Services commands with a special investigations unit, a tactical team and a hazardous devices unit, and administers the city jail
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 August 2026. City of Brownsville / BPOA labor agreement FY2022-23 to FY2025-26, Article 21 wage table — open the source document
Labor Agreement between the City of Brownsville and the Brownsville Police Officers' Association (Fraternal Order of Brownsville Police Officers), FY2022-23 through FY2025-26, authorized by the City Commission 6 Dec 2022, Article 21 Salary & Wages base pay table. 'Entry Level (0 to 1 yr)' is the lowest of the patrol grades, below Patrol I (1 to 2 yrs); the final column, effective FY2025-26, is $40,902.63. The grades are defined by YEARS OF SERVICE, not by sworn status — Entry Level 0 to 1 yr, Patrol I 1 to 2, Patrol II 2 to 3, Patrol III 3 to 4, Patrol IV 4 and up — so the entry rate runs from hire through the whole first year regardless of when the officer is sworn. Base only — seniority, certification, assignment, shift differential and educational incentive pay are all listed separately in the same Article.
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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Entry pay, 2022–2025
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 Brownsville 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. Brownsville starts at $40,903, so $27,237 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Brownsville Police Department officer make?
Brownsville Police Department starts a new officer on $40,903 a year, about $19.66 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 Brownsville / BPOA labor agreement FY2022-23 to FY2025-26, Article 21 wage table.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Texas?
It ranks #149 of 151 agencies we have verified in Texas — 2 pay less, 148 pay more in the state — and #2,247 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $25,782 below, and against other municipal agencies $27,237 below.
Compare with another department
Put Brownsville 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 TX
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Brownsville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allen Police Department | Municipal | 153 | $91,106 | +$50,203 | #241 |
| 2 | Frisco Police Department | Municipal | 270 | $90,750 | +$49,847 | #252 |
| 3 | Plano Police Department | Municipal | 400 | $90,729 | +$49,826 | #253 |
| 4 | Grand Prairie Police Department | Municipal | 287 | $90,000 | +$49,097 | #270 |
| 5 | Hurst Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $87,048 | +$46,145 | #322 |
| 6 | Lewisville Police Department | Municipal | 181 | $86,268 | +$45,365 | #335 |
| 7 | Coppell Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $84,968 | +$44,065 | #355 |
| 8 | Rockwall Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $84,448 | +$43,545 | #362 |
| 9 | Farmers Branch Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $84,440 | +$43,537 | #363 |
| 10 | The Colony Police Department | Municipal | 86 | $84,082 | +$43,179 | #371 |
| 11 | Baytown Police Department | Municipal | 172 | $84,049 | +$43,146 | #372 |
| 12 | McKinney Police Department | Municipal | 248 | $83,992 | +$43,090 | #374 |
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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