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California Employment Development 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.
California Employment Development Department starts at $76,068 a year — about $36.57 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,383 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,902 above the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $68,703 somewhere at average prices — $7,365 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 159 against a national average of 100, where goods are 106. 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.
What California Employment Development Department says about itself
The EDD's Investigation Division Criminal Tax Enforcement Program is a specialised law enforcement unit that investigates criminal violations of the California Unemployment Insurance Code, the California Penal Code, and the United States Code for federal prosecutions. This unit is staffed by sworn peace officers who work with law enforcement agencies throughout California and with partner agencies to identify and prosecute employer fraud: they conduct surveillance, perform undercover operations, interview witnesses, initiate search warrants, and submit completed investigations to prosecutors. The EDD is the only state workforce agency to have a body of sworn peace officers, and enjoys a long history of partnering with federal investigators.
What California Employment Development Department does
EDD Investigation Division peace officers conduct comprehensive criminal investigations into fraud affecting California employment programs, identify and investigate fraudulent activity, coordinate enforcement and prosecution work and perform the full range of peace-officer duties authorized by state law.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. California CalCareers — EDD Investigator, JC-515217 — open the source document
$76,068. 2026 recruitment; final filing 5 July 2026
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 California Employment Development Department 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. California Employment Development Department starts at $76,068, so $10,902 above the state middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a California Employment Development Department officer make?
California Employment Development Department starts a new officer on $76,068 a year, about $36.57 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 California CalCareers — EDD Investigator, JC-515217.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #245 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 33 pay less, 244 pay more in the state — and #623 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,383 above, and against other state agencies $10,902 above.
Compare with another department
Put California Employment Development 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs California | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$87,551 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$73,375 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$71,874 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$67,935 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$67,028 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$64,956 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$63,672 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$62,897 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$62,193 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$56,326 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$56,195 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$55,968 | #12 |
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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