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Davenport 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.
Davenport Police Department starts at $70,322 a year — about $33.81 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,932 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $942 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $78,943 would somewhere at average prices — $8,621 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 68 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isDavenport Police Department reported 143 sworn officers and 28 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 100,761.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 Davenport says about itself
The mission of the Davenport Police Department is to protect and care for the well-being of our community while providing excellence in police service. The Davenport Police Department is committed to the values of integrity, fairness, competency, and professionalism through positive and meaningful police-citizen interactions and partnerships.
What Davenport does
The Davenport Police Department describes itself as a community-centered, forward-thinking department. Police Officers maintain order, protect life and property, prevent crime, patrol assigned areas, respond to emergencies, enforce traffic laws, investigate incidents, apprehend suspects and provide assistance to the public
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Davenport official Police Officer - Fall 2026 — open the source document
Opened 15 May 2026; official entry Police Officer salary $70,322 annually. Applicants need a high school diploma/GED and are hired before attending the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy; certified officers are separately eligible for lateral treatment. Lateral placement and incentives 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.
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How this level compares
Where Davenport 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. Davenport starts at $70,322, so $965 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Davenport Police Department officer make?
Davenport Police Department starts a new officer on $70,322 a year, about $33.81 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 Davenport official Police Officer - Fall 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #12 of 28 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 16 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #752 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,932 above, and against other municipal agencies $942 below.
Compare with another department
Put Davenport 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 IA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Davenport | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$15,228 | #281 |
| 2 | Des Moines Police Department | Municipal | 367 | $84,635 | +$14,313 | #297 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | +$6,388 | #486 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | +$6,326 | #491 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | +$5,706 | #516 |
| 6 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | +$3,622 | #597 |
| 7 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | +$2,894 | #616 |
| 8 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | +$1,500 | #678 |
| 9 | Mason City Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $71,448 | +$1,126 | #698 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | +$549 | #732 |
| 11 | Iowa Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Law Enforcement | State | — | $70,574 | +$252 | #742 |
| 13 | Clinton County Sheriff's Office | County | 30 | $70,200 | −$122 | #759 |
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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