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Cottonwood Heights 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.
Cottonwood Heights Police Department starts at $69,763 a year — about $33.54 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,078 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,623 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Utah run about 1% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,565 would somewhere at average prices — $802 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 79, where goods are 96. 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 isCottonwood Heights Police Department reported 43 sworn officers and 9 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 32,173.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 Cottonwood Heights says about itself
The Cottonwood Heights Police Department provides policing for the city from City Hall at 2277 East Bengal Boulevard, with non-emergency dispatch operating 24 hours a day through the Valley Emergency Communications Center. The department runs a Citizens Academy giving residents, business owners and employees access to its officers and resources, covering use of force, criminal investigation and evidence collection, gang and narcotics enforcement, domestic violence and K9 work.
What Cottonwood Heights does
Cottonwood Heights Police Department serves a community at the base of the Wasatch Mountains and gives its sworn officers a holiday bank rather than fixed days — 110 hours a year credited quarterly, which must be used within the quarter they are granted
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 August 2026. Cottonwood Heights Police Pay Step Plan FY 26-27, published on the city's HR Employee Benefits page — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 2026.
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 Cottonwood Heights 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. Cottonwood Heights starts at $69,763, so $1,623 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Cottonwood Heights Police Department officer make?
Cottonwood Heights Police Department starts a new officer on $69,763 a year, about $33.54 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 Cottonwood Heights Police Pay Step Plan FY 26-27, published on the city's HR Employee Benefits page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Utah?
It ranks #7 of 31 agencies we have verified in Utah — 24 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #958 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,078 above, and against other municipal agencies $1,623 above.
Compare with another department
Put Cottonwood Heights 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 UT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Cottonwood | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City Police Department | Municipal | 589 | $76,315 | +$6,552 | #612 |
| 2 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,982 | +$6,219 | #629 |
| 3 | Taylorsville Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,941 | +$6,178 | #634 |
| 4 | Utah Highway Patrol | State | 536 | $75,878 | +$6,115 | #636 |
| 5 | Sandy Police Department | Municipal | 115 | $73,112 | +$3,349 | #753 |
| 6 | West Valley City Police Department | Municipal | — | $73,045 | +$3,282 | #757 |
| 8 | Murray City Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $68,890 | −$874 | #1,000 |
| 9 | Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake | Municipal | — | $68,099 | −$1,664 | #1,050 |
| 10 | South Salt Lake Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $66,997 | −$2,766 | #1,120 |
| 11 | Orem Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,768 | −$2,995 | #1,137 |
| 12 | Moab Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $66,747 | −$3,016 | #1,143 |
| 13 | South Jordan Police Department | Municipal | 69 | $66,435 | −$3,328 | #1,164 |
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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