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Chapel Hill 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.
Chapel Hill Police Department starts at $61,451 a year — about $29.54 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,939 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $9,813 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,980 would somewhere at average prices — $1,529 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 isChapel Hill Police Department reported 82 sworn officers and 30 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 65,938.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 Chapel Hill says about itself
We serve, protect, and partner with our community by promoting safety, preventing crime, and building trust as the Guardians of the Hill.
What Chapel Hill does
Chapel Hill Police Department provides law-enforcement and public-safety services with a strong emphasis on community partnership, equitable service and problem solving. Official Town materials describe patrol, investigations, traffic safety, crisis response and community programs designed to protect people, reduce harm and maintain public trust
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Town of Chapel Hill FY2026-27 Classification and Pay Plan plus official Po — open the source document
Official recruitment states recruits receive a salary incentive upon successful BLET completion. The Town's FY2026-27 pay plan, dated 3 June 2026, places Police Officer II at grade PN2 with a $61,451 minimum; this is the first published post-entry sworn classification above Recruit/Police Officer I and is retained as the documented post-BLET figure
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 Chapel Hill 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. Chapel Hill starts at $61,451, so $9,836 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Chapel Hill Police Department officer make?
Chapel Hill Police Department starts a new officer on $61,451 a year, about $29.54 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 Chapel Hill FY2026-27 Classification and Pay Plan plus official Po.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Carolina?
It ranks #7 of 40 agencies we have verified in North Carolina — 33 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #1,176 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,939 below, and against other municipal agencies $9,813 below.
Compare with another department
Put Chapel Hill 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 Chapel | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knightdale Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $67,363 | +$5,912 | #902 |
| 2 | Cary Police Department | Municipal | 194 | $65,104 | +$3,653 | #1,012 |
| 3 | Wake Forest Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $65,093 | +$3,642 | #1,013 |
| 4 | Appalachian State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 36 | $64,084 | +$2,633 | #1,057 |
| 5 | North Carolina State Highway Patrol | State | — | $63,250 | +$1,799 | #1,100 |
| 6 | Johnston County Sheriff's Office | County | 124 | $62,213 | +$762 | #1,147 |
| 8 | Raleigh Police Department | Municipal | 713 | $61,417 | −$34 | #1,177 |
| 9 | Duke University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 57 | $60,195 | −$1,256 | #1,227 |
| 10 | Greensboro Police Department | Municipal | 582 | $59,509 | −$1,942 | #1,268 |
| 11 | Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department | Municipal | 1,702 | $59,502 | −$1,949 | #1,269 |
| 12 | Rolesville Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $59,304 | −$2,147 | #1,274 |
| 13 | Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office | County | 238 | $58,225 | −$3,226 | #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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