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Cape Coral 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.
Cape Coral Police Department starts at $74,131 a year — about $35.64 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,741 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $2,867 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL run about 2% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $72,430 somewhere at average prices — $1,701 less than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: rent at 125, where goods are 96. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isCape Coral Police Department reported 308 sworn officers and 102 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 243,527.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 Cape Coral says about itself
Cape Coral Police Department is a full-service law enforcement agency serving the citizens of Cape Coral, Florida.
What Cape Coral does
Cape Coral Police Department was founded in 1971 and is an internationally accredited agency serving a large Gulf Coast city in Lee County. Its Patrol Bureau is the department's largest operational component, on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year: officers work 12-hour shifts in four platoons — two day and two night — each under a watch commander at lieutenant rank with four sergeants and around 30 officers, supported by public service aides and a police volunteer unit. Beyond patrol the department runs investigations, traffic, K-9, aviation, marine, SWAT, a crisis negotiation team and a dive team.
Shifts at Cape Coral
Cape Coral patrol officers work 12-hour shifts in four platoons — two day and two night — each under a lieutenant watch commander with four sergeants and around 30 officers.
Four platoons on twelves means the day and night teams alternate through the year, and your days off never sit on the same weekdays for long. BlueShifts builds the pattern once and marks each shift as a day or a night, so the month ahead is always right.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Cape Coral official Police Officers and Sergeants collective bargaining agreement, expiring 30 September 2028 — open the source document
FY2026 Merit Based Range Progression plan; Police Officer Level 1 $35.64 hourly = $74,131.20 at 2,080 hours, new hires starting at Level 1. Effective with the first full pay period of October 2025.
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 Cape Coral 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Cape Coral starts at $74,131, so $2,844 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Cape Coral Police Department officer make?
Cape Coral Police Department starts a new officer on $74,131 a year, about $35.64 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 Cape Coral official Police Officers and Sergeants collective bargaining agreement, expiring 30 September 2028.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #22 of 141 agencies we have verified in Florida — 119 pay less, 21 pay more in the state — and #589 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,741 above, and against other municipal agencies $2,867 above.
What shifts do Cape Coral Police Department officers work?
Cape Coral patrol officers work 12-hour shifts in four platoons — two day and two night — each under a lieutenant watch commander with four sergeants and around 30 officers. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Cape Coral 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 FL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Cape | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $86,674 | +$12,542 | #270 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$7,592 | #354 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$6,869 | #379 |
| 4 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$6,780 | #383 |
| 5 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$5,869 | #411 |
| 6 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$4,425 | #441 |
| 7 | Coral Springs Police Department | Municipal | 222 | $77,516 | +$3,385 | #470 |
| 8 | Boynton Beach Police Department | Municipal | 173 | $76,650 | +$2,519 | #490 |
| 9 | North Palm Beach Police Department | Municipal | 37 | $76,378 | +$2,246 | #497 |
| 10 | Naples Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $76,320 | +$2,189 | #501 |
| 11 | West Palm Beach Police Department | Municipal | 295 | $75,921 | +$1,790 | #524 |
| 12 | Bay Harbor Islands Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $75,836 | +$1,705 | #528 |
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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