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Dearborn 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.
Dearborn Police Department starts at $69,080 a year — about $33.21 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,395 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $940 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isDearborn Police Department reported 186 sworn officers and 40 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 105,599.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 Dearborn says about itself
The Dearborn Police Department strives to uphold public safety by cultivating partnerships within our diverse and vibrant community to address and reduce crime; safeguard the life, property, and constitutional rights of all; and exhibit the highest ethical standards demanded of law enforcement.
What Dearborn does
Dearborn Police Officers perform patrol and enforcement functions, make arrests, investigate crimes, respond to emergencies and protect life and property.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Dearborn NEOGOV Police Officer posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 19 October 2023.
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 Dearborn 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. Dearborn starts at $69,080, so $940 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Dearborn Police Department officer make?
Dearborn Police Department starts a new officer on $69,080 a year, about $33.21 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 Dearborn NEOGOV Police Officer posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Michigan?
It ranks #10 of 41 agencies we have verified in Michigan — 31 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #986 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,395 above, and against other municipal agencies $940 above.
Compare with another department
Put Dearborn 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 MI
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Dearborn | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Troy Police Department | Municipal | 110 | $78,224 | +$9,144 | #551 |
| 2 | Grand Rapids Police Department | Municipal | 299 | $77,467 | +$8,387 | #573 |
| 3 | Wyoming Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $75,400 | +$6,320 | #654 |
| 4 | Auburn Hills Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $71,863 | +$2,783 | #821 |
| 5 | Sumpter Township Police Department | Municipal | 18 | $71,732 | +$2,652 | #833 |
| 6 | Lincoln Charter Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $71,696 | +$2,616 | #835 |
| 7 | Macomb County Sheriff's Office | County | 274 | $71,098 | +$2,018 | #870 |
| 8 | Muskegon Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $69,888 | +$808 | #952 |
| 9 | Livonia Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $69,784 | +$704 | #955 |
| 11 | Plymouth Township Police Department | Municipal | 33 | $68,140 | −$940 | #1,043 |
| 12 | Oscoda Township Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $68,140 | −$940 | #1,044 |
| 13 | Northville Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $65,956 | −$3,124 | #1,189 |
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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