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Canton 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.
Canton Police Department starts at $60,792 a year — about $29.23 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,892 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $7,348 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Georgia run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $63,133 would somewhere at average prices — $2,340 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 89 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 isCanton Police Department reported 52 sworn officers and 11 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 39,311.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 Canton says about itself
At the City of Canton Police Department, we are committed to providing a professional and community police department to serve the City.
What Canton does
The Canton Police Department is the municipal force for the City of Canton, the seat of Cherokee County, Georgia. The City describes a department built on problem-oriented policing and community ties, and says it provided over 6,752 hours of training in 2025.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 23 September 2026. City of Canton, Join Canton PD: "Certified Police Officer (or upon completion of the academy): $60,792.34", with "Certified Police Officer with Bachelor's Degree: $62,792.34" and "Police Officer Trainee: $52,416.00" beside it. — open the source document
$60,792.34 is printed as an annual figure and needs no conversion. The City's own job posting for a Certified Police Officer, posted 03/04/2026, carries the same number. THE TRAINEE RATE IS NOT THE ENTRY RATE: $52,416.00 is paid while an uncertified hire is at the academy, and the City says in its own words that the certified rate applies "upon completion of the academy". The Bachelor's figure is an education add-on of $2,000, not the base. Prior service is rewarded separately - "For every two full years of prior certified experience, you will receive 1 step added to your starting pay" - so $60,792.34 is the rate for a certified officer with none. Excluded: college pay, bilingual pay, overtime and benefits.
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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How this level compares
Where Canton 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. Canton starts at $60,792, so $7,348 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Canton Police Department officer make?
Canton Police Department starts a new officer on $60,792 a year, about $29.23 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 Canton, Join Canton PD: "Certified Police Officer (or upon completion of the academy): $60,792.34", with "Certified Police Officer with Bachelor's Degree: $62,792.34" and "Police Officer Trainee: $52,416.00" beside it..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #16 of 80 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 64 pay less, 15 pay more in the state — and #1,518 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,892 below, and against other municipal agencies $7,348 below.
Compare with another department
Put Canton 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Canton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chamblee Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $73,733 | +$12,941 | #729 |
| 2 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$10,894 | #836 |
| 3 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$4,184 | #1,265 |
| 4 | Duluth Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $64,755 | +$3,963 | #1,279 |
| 5 | Garden City Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $64,072 | +$3,279 | #1,314 |
| 6 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | +$2,892 | #1,336 |
| 7 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | +$2,648 | #1,354 |
| 8 | Hall County Sheriff's Office | County | 283 | $63,365 | +$2,573 | #1,359 |
| 9 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | +$1,670 | #1,413 |
| 10 | Dunwoody Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $62,301 | +$1,509 | #1,428 |
| 11 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | +$1,197 | #1,450 |
| 12 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | +$308 | #1,495 |
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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