Home › Police pay › Colorado › Colorado Springs Police Department
Colorado Springs 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.
Colorado Springs Police Department starts at $73,548 a year — about $35.36 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,158 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $2,284 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isColorado Springs Police Department reported 749 sworn officers and 330 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 496,560.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 Colorado Springs says about itself
Our mission is to promote the quality of life in Colorado Springs by providing police services with integrity and with a spirit of excellence, in partnership with our Community.
What Colorado Springs does
The Colorado Springs Police Department says entry-level recruits become Police Officers after successfully completing the academy and obtaining POST certification. Police Officers patrol assigned sectors, respond to calls for service, keep the peace, assist the public, resolve conflicts, enforce federal, state and local laws, deter criminal activity and make arrests when necessary
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Colorado Springs official 2026 Salary Schedule and CS — open the source document
Current 2026 salary schedule lists Police Officer 4th Class at $6,129/month = $73,548 annually. CSPD's official recruitment states recruits are promoted to Police Officer upon successful completion of the academy and POST certification; CSPD's salary page identifies Police Officer 4th Class as the first post-academy officer grade. Recruit pay, lateral pay and other add-ons 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 Colorado Springs 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. Colorado Springs starts at $73,548, so $2,261 above the municipal middle.
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 it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Colorado Springs Police Department officer make?
Colorado Springs Police Department starts a new officer on $73,548 a year, about $35.36 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 Colorado Springs official 2026 Salary Schedule and CS.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Colorado?
It ranks #21 of 35 agencies we have verified in Colorado — 14 pay less, 20 pay more in the state — and #608 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,158 above, and against other municipal agencies $2,284 above.
Compare with another department
Put Colorado Springs 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 CO
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Colorado | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado State Patrol | State | 706 | $91,620 | +$18,072 | #184 |
| 2 | Parker Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $89,898 | +$16,350 | #217 |
| 3 | Johnstown Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $86,944 | +$13,396 | #266 |
| 4 | Broomfield Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $86,029 | +$12,481 | #278 |
| 5 | Golden Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $85,321 | +$11,773 | #287 |
| 6 | Lakewood Police Department | Municipal | 274 | $85,093 | +$11,545 | #291 |
| 7 | Breckenridge Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $83,990 | +$10,442 | #310 |
| 8 | Thornton Police Department | Municipal | 243 | $82,992 | +$9,444 | #332 |
| 9 | Commerce City Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $82,327 | +$8,779 | #341 |
| 10 | Larimer County Sheriff's Office | County | 228 | $81,765 | +$8,217 | #353 |
| 11 | Westminster Police Department | Municipal | 187 | $80,746 | +$7,198 | #387 |
| 12 | Boulder County Sheriff's Office | County | 106 | $80,496 | +$6,948 | #395 |
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
