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Cambridge 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.
Cambridge Police Department starts at $55,000 a year — about $26.44 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,685 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $13,140 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Massachusetts run about 6% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $52,006 somewhere at average prices — $2,994 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 isCambridge Police Department reported 267 sworn officers and 42 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 121,634.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 Cambridge says about itself
The Cambridge Police Department (CPD) is committed to providing the highest level of professional police service while respecting the constitutional rights of every person living in or visiting the City of Cambridge.
What Cambridge does
The Cambridge Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and holds Advanced Level Accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
Where the figure comes from
Checked 18 September 2026. City of Cambridge official "Become a Cambridge Police Officer" recruitment page — open the source document
Page shows a last-updated timestamp of 17 Dec 2024; no separate effective date stated. Figure given as an approximate base salary, before shift differentials, longevity pay, overtime, equipment allowances, and degree/language incentives.
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 Cambridge 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. Cambridge starts at $55,000, so $13,140 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Cambridge Police Department officer make?
Cambridge Police Department starts a new officer on $55,000 a year, about $26.44 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 Cambridge official "Become a Cambridge Police Officer" recruitment page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Massachusetts?
It ranks #18 of 19 agencies we have verified in Massachusetts — 1 pay less, 17 pay more in the state — and #1,860 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,685 below, and against other municipal agencies $13,140 below.
Compare with another department
Put Cambridge 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 Cambridge | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $95,568 | +$40,568 | #178 |
| 2 | Nantucket Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $92,144 | +$37,144 | #225 |
| 3 | Massachusetts State Police | State | 2,565 | $80,213 | +$25,213 | #491 |
| 4 | Tufts University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 52 | $75,962 | +$20,962 | #632 |
| 5 | Barnstable Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $75,400 | +$20,400 | #655 |
| 6 | Boston Police Department | Municipal | 2,172 | $71,861 | +$16,861 | #822 |
| 7 | Plymouth Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $67,927 | +$12,927 | #1,062 |
| 8 | West Stockbridge Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,797 | +$11,797 | #1,133 |
| 9 | Haverhill Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $66,652 | +$11,652 | #1,146 |
| 10 | Rowley Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $66,397 | +$11,397 | #1,168 |
| 11 | Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs — Environmental Police | State | — | $65,447 | +$10,447 | #1,222 |
| 12 | Brockton Police Department | Municipal | 179 | $63,971 | +$8,971 | #1,321 |
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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