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Cary 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.
Cary Police Department starts at $65,104 a year — about $31.30 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,286 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $6,160 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Raleigh-Cary, NC run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $66,326 would somewhere at average prices — $1,222 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 89, where goods are 97. 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 isCary Police Department reported 194 sworn officers and 46 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 184,680.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 Cary says about itself
Partnering with the community, the Town of Cary Police Department will provide exemplary policing to ensure that Cary, North Carolina, remains one of the nation's safest cities.
What Cary does
The Cary Police Department describes its officers as public-safety professionals serving a growing community through law enforcement, emergency response, crime prevention, investigations, traffic safety, and community engagement. Its recruitment materials distinguish cadets from BLET-certified Police Officer I candidates and emphasize service, professionalism, teamwork, and career development within the department
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Town of Cary of — open the source document
Official 2026 posting states the hiring range starts at $65,104 for BLET-certified officers. Experience, military, education, and credential-based higher placement are excluded
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 Cary 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. Cary starts at $65,104, so $6,183 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Cary Police Department officer make?
Cary Police Department starts a new officer on $65,104 a year, about $31.30 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 Town of Cary of.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Carolina?
It ranks #2 of 40 agencies we have verified in North Carolina — 38 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #1,012 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,286 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,160 below.
Compare with another department
Put Cary 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 NC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Cary | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knightdale Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $67,363 | +$2,259 | #902 |
| 3 | Wake Forest Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $65,093 | −$11 | #1,013 |
| 4 | Appalachian State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 36 | $64,084 | −$1,020 | #1,057 |
| 5 | North Carolina State Highway Patrol | State | — | $63,250 | −$1,854 | #1,100 |
| 6 | Johnston County Sheriff's Office | County | 124 | $62,213 | −$2,891 | #1,147 |
| 7 | Chapel Hill Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $61,451 | −$3,653 | #1,176 |
| 8 | Raleigh Police Department | Municipal | 713 | $61,417 | −$3,687 | #1,177 |
| 9 | Duke University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 57 | $60,195 | −$4,909 | #1,227 |
| 10 | Greensboro Police Department | Municipal | 582 | $59,509 | −$5,595 | #1,268 |
| 11 | Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department | Municipal | 1,702 | $59,502 | −$5,602 | #1,269 |
| 12 | Rolesville Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $59,304 | −$5,800 | #1,274 |
| 13 | Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office | County | 238 | $58,225 | −$6,879 | #1,309 |
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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