Home › Police pay › West Virginia › Charles Town Police Department
Charles Town 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.
Charles Town Police Department starts at $57,462 a year — about $27.63 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,223 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,678 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in West Virginia run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $64,206 would somewhere at average prices — $6,744 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 54 against a national average of 100, where goods are 97. 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 isCharles Town Police Department reported 16 sworn officers and 4 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 9,588.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 Charles Town says about itself
The department strives to provide for the general protection, safety, and well-being of all residents, businesses, and visitors of the City of Charles Town through a proactive approach in the prevention, deterrence, detection, community interactions, and investigation of criminal activity.
What Charles Town does
The Charles Town Police Department is the municipal force for the City of Charles Town, the seat of Jefferson County in West Virginia's eastern panhandle. It is a civil service department accredited by CALEA.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 25 September 2026. Charles Town Police Department, Careers page: "Effective July 1st, 2025, the salary for this position will be $57,462 for a WV certified police officer and $56,060 for an uncertified individual." — open the source document
The department prints both starting rates for a probationary officer and this is the certified one; the $56,060 uncertified rate is not the figure. Effective 1 July 2025 and stated as the current rate. The same page still carries the earlier sentence ("$56,061" uncertified and "$54,694" certified) that the July 2025 rates replaced. Excluded: sign-on bonuses, longevity, the night-shift differential, the clothing allowance and COLA.
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Charles Town 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. Charles Town starts at $57,462, so $10,678 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Charles Town Police Department officer make?
Charles Town Police Department starts a new officer on $57,462 a year, about $27.63 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 Charles Town Police Department, Careers page: "Effective July 1st, 2025, the salary for this position will be $57,462 for a WV certified police officer and $56,060 for an uncertified individual.".
Is that good pay for a police officer in West Virginia?
It ranks #6 of 16 agencies we have verified in West Virginia — 10 pay less, 5 pay more in the state — and #1,732 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,223 below, and against other municipal agencies $10,678 below.
Compare with another department
Put Charles Town 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 WV
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Charles | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia State Police | State | 440 | $60,984 | +$3,522 | #1,507 |
| 2 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $59,187 | +$1,725 | #1,621 |
| 3 | Morgantown Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $58,157 | +$695 | #1,666 |
| 4 | Huntington Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $57,787 | +$325 | #1,702 |
| 5 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,485 | +$23 | #1,730 |
| 7 | Kanawha County Sheriff's Office | County | 95 | $57,054 | −$408 | #1,747 |
| 8 | Monongalia County Sheriff's Office | County | 35 | $56,300 | −$1,162 | #1,781 |
| 9 | Martinsburg Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $55,710 | −$1,752 | #1,809 |
| 10 | Wheeling Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $55,161 | −$2,301 | #1,842 |
| 11 | Jefferson County Sheriff's Office | County | 34 | $55,125 | −$2,337 | #1,844 |
| 12 | Moundsville Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $54,621 | −$2,841 | #1,882 |
| 13 | Fairmont Police Department | Municipal | 33 | $53,597 | −$3,865 | #1,935 |
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.
Scan to install
