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Bullhead City 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.
Bullhead City Police Department starts at $67,038 a year — about $32.23 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $354 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,102 below the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isBullhead City Police Department reported 66 sworn officers and 40 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 43,721.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 Bullhead City says about itself
The General Patrol and Traffic Sections respond to both emergency and non-emergency calls to help protect the safety and well-being of the Bullhead City community. In addition to keeping our roadways safe, our officers also patrol the beaches and the Colorado River to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors on the water.
What Bullhead City does
Bullhead City Police Department provides professional municipal law-enforcement services through patrol, investigations, traffic enforcement, crime prevention and community programs. Official City materials emphasize public safety, professional service, accountability and partnerships with residents, businesses and visitors
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Bullhead City official Police Officer (Entry Level) — open the source document
Current 2026 posting lists entry-level minimum $32.23/hour = $67,038.40 annually; academy completion and AZ PO
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 Bullhead City 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. Bullhead City starts at $67,038, so $1,102 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Bullhead City Police Department officer make?
Bullhead City Police Department starts a new officer on $67,038 a year, about $32.23 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 Bullhead City official Police Officer (Entry Level).
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arizona?
It ranks #19 of 36 agencies we have verified in Arizona — 17 pay less, 18 pay more in the state — and #1,118 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $354 above, and against other municipal agencies $1,102 below.
Compare with another department
Put Bullhead City 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 AZ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Bullhead | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scottsdale Police Department | Municipal | 391 | $81,474 | +$14,435 | #440 |
| 2 | Tempe Police Department | Municipal | 353 | $79,977 | +$12,939 | #497 |
| 3 | Goodyear Police Department | Municipal | 174 | $77,147 | +$10,109 | #580 |
| 4 | Buckeye Police Department | Municipal | 133 | $76,003 | +$8,965 | #626 |
| 5 | Phoenix Police Department | Municipal | 2,490 | $75,847 | +$8,809 | #637 |
| 6 | Queen Creek Police Department | Municipal | 132 | $74,693 | +$7,654 | #689 |
| 7 | Chandler Police Department | Municipal | 348 | $74,610 | +$7,571 | #693 |
| 8 | Surprise Police Department | Municipal | 179 | $74,214 | +$7,176 | #707 |
| 9 | Peoria Police Department | Municipal | 234 | $74,194 | +$7,155 | #708 |
| 10 | Mesa Police Department | Municipal | 885 | $73,972 | +$6,934 | #720 |
| 11 | Glendale Police Department | Municipal | 406 | $73,389 | +$6,351 | #742 |
| 12 | Casa Grande Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $72,860 | +$5,822 | #768 |
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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