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Del Rio 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.
Del Rio Police Department starts at $39,078 a year — about $18.79 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $27,607 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $29,062 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Texas run about 3% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $40,263 would somewhere at average prices — $1,185 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 88, where goods are 98. 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 isDel Rio Police Department reported 52 sworn officers and 26 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 34,668.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 Del Rio says about itself
The City of Del Rio Police Department serves the community by protecting citizens and property, preventing crime, enforcing laws, and maintaining order. The department is committed to provide superior police service to the public in order to protect life, property and the freedoms provided by the Constitution. It runs its own police academy, renowned for its diversity and premier training, where a foundation in law, procedures and ethics allows cadets to build the framework to a successful career.
What Del Rio does
Del Rio Police Department serves a border city of more than 52,800 on the Rio Grande, working four overlapping twelve-hour patrol shifts each under its own lieutenant, with a criminal investigation division alongside. It runs its own 22-week police academy for recruits with no prior law enforcement experience, whose cadets do a minimum of six hours of physical training a week, and publishes annual crime reports and its training calendar openly
Shifts at Del Rio
Officers receive a competitive salary with regular salary increases, city-subsidized insurance, 12 hour shifts, 14 paid holidays off per year, annual and sick leave, tuition reimbursement, as well as retirement.
The agency publishes the shift length but not a named cycle. These are the 12-hour rotations departments most often build on it: Pitman, 4 on, 4 off, DuPont, Panama, 3-4-4-3.
Twelves listed alongside pay and holidays, because the shift is part of the offer. BlueShifts lays the pattern out so you can see what a year of it actually looks like.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 August 2026. Del Rio Police Department — recruiting site, department pay scale — open the source document
Del Rio Police Department's own recruiting site publishes the department pay scale: Police Officer I (Probationary, Year 1) $1,503.00 bi-weekly = $39,078 a year, with Recruit (during the training academy) at $35,408 and Police Officer II (2-3 years) at $45,234. The post-academy probationary rate is the entry figure: the department's own page states no prior law enforcement experience is required and that new hires attend the 22-week Del Rio Training Police Academy to obtain a peace officer license, and it prices lateral entry separately.
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.
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 this level compares
Where Del Rio 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. Del Rio starts at $39,078, so $29,062 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Del Rio Police Department officer make?
Del Rio Police Department starts a new officer on $39,078 a year, about $18.79 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 Del Rio Police Department — recruiting site, department pay scale.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Texas?
It ranks #151 of 151 agencies we have verified in Texas — 0 pay less, 150 pay more in the state — and #2,259 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $27,607 below, and against other municipal agencies $29,062 below.
What shifts do Del Rio Police Department officers work?
Officers receive a competitive salary with regular salary increases, city-subsidized insurance, 12 hour shifts, 14 paid holidays off per year, annual and sick leave, tuition reimbursement, as well as retirement. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Del Rio 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 TX
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Del | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allen Police Department | Municipal | 153 | $91,106 | +$52,028 | #241 |
| 2 | Frisco Police Department | Municipal | 270 | $90,750 | +$51,672 | #252 |
| 3 | Plano Police Department | Municipal | 400 | $90,729 | +$51,651 | #253 |
| 4 | Grand Prairie Police Department | Municipal | 287 | $90,000 | +$50,922 | #270 |
| 5 | Hurst Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $87,048 | +$47,970 | #322 |
| 6 | Lewisville Police Department | Municipal | 181 | $86,268 | +$47,190 | #335 |
| 7 | Coppell Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $84,968 | +$45,890 | #355 |
| 8 | Rockwall Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $84,448 | +$45,370 | #362 |
| 9 | Farmers Branch Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $84,440 | +$45,362 | #363 |
| 10 | The Colony Police Department | Municipal | 86 | $84,082 | +$45,004 | #371 |
| 11 | Baytown Police Department | Municipal | 172 | $84,049 | +$44,971 | #372 |
| 12 | McKinney Police Department | Municipal | 248 | $83,992 | +$44,914 | #374 |
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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