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Chula Vista 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.
Chula Vista Police Department starts at $100,556 a year — about $48.34 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $32,166 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $29,291 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA run about 12% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $89,872 somewhere at average prices — $10,683 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 179 against a national average of 100, where goods are 108. 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 isChula Vista Police Department reported 276 sworn officers and 98 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 279,237.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 Chula Vista says about itself
The Chula Vista Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of Chula Vista—San Diego County's second largest city and a rapidly developing urban center. CVPD provides comprehensive law enforcement, crime prevention, and public safety services to a community of over 278,000 residents. Recognized as the 10th safest city in the United States among jurisdictions with populations over 200,000, CVPD remains committed to innovative policing, community engagement, and maintaining a safe and thriving city for all who live, work, and visit Chula Vista.
What Chula Vista does
Chula Vista Police Department serves a San Diego County city of roughly 277,000, the second largest in the county. It describes itself as working in partnership with the community to provide community policing with a high level of professionalism and transparency. It is best known nationally for its Drone as First Responder programme, begun in 2018, which launches drones from sites across the city to reach emergency calls ahead of officers and stream live video to responding units; the department also publishes public crime-trend dashboards and a transparency portal.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $8,379.63/month / $100,555.56 annual minimum. Official City 2026 Peace Officer Lateral/Academy Graduate/Academy Enrolled recruitment publishes $8,379. — open the source document
$8,379.63/month / $100,555.56 annual minimum. Official City 2026 Peace Officer Lateral/Academy Graduate/Academy Enrolled recruitment publishes $8,379.63-$11,229.
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 Chula Vista 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. Chula Vista starts at $100,556, so $29,269 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Chula Vista Police Department officer make?
Chula Vista Police Department starts a new officer on $100,556 a year, about $48.34 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 $8,379.63/month / $100,555.56 annual minimum. Official City 2026 Peace Officer Lateral/Academy Graduate/Academy Enrolled recruitment publishes $8,379..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #87 of 222 agencies we have verified in California — 135 pay less, 86 pay more in the state — and #98 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $32,166 above, and against other municipal agencies $29,291 above.
Compare with another department
Put Chula Vista 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Chula | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$63,064 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$48,887 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$47,387 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$43,448 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$42,540 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$40,468 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$39,184 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$38,409 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$37,705 | #9 |
| 10 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$31,707 | #10 |
| 11 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$31,480 | #11 |
| 12 | Campbell Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $131,747 | +$31,192 | #12 |
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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