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Denver 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.
Denver Police Department starts at $78,686 a year — about $37.83 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,296 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $7,422 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Colorado run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $76,356 somewhere at average prices — $2,330 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 127 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. 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 isDenver Police Department reported 1,562 sworn officers and 267 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 733,212.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 Denver says about itself
Preventing crime and increasing public trust while honoring the responsibilities granted to us by those we serve, with continued focus on partnerships, learning, and innovation.
What Denver does
The Denver Police Department provides police services to the consolidated City and County of Denver with about 1,517 sworn officers across six geographic districts. Recruits are paid full salary and benefits from the first day of the Denver Police Academy, which runs 25 to 28 weeks before field training, and officers work ten-hour shifts with three consecutive days off.
Denver’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Denver officers work ten-hour shifts with three consecutive days off.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
WorkingOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
Denver publishes the days on and off but not which are days and which are nights. In BlueShifts you choose that yourself — every shift can be a day, a night or a 24-hour tour, and the calendar marks it with a sun, a moon or a clock.
Three consecutive days off is the selling point, and it is also the thing hardest to plan around when the block slides through the week. BlueShifts fixes your cycle once and shows every future block.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 18 August 2026. City and County of Denver and Denver Police Protective Association, collective bargaining agreement 2026-2028, Article 27 (Pay Rates and Longevity), effective 1 January 2026; confirmed against the Denver Police Department's own published 2026 salary scale — open the source document
Denver publishes a graded scale for sworn officers. A recruit is paid $73,066 from day one of the Denver Police Academy, and on graduating moves to POLICE OFFICER 4TH GRADE at $78,686 - a change of grade, not a step within one, so the entry figure is the rate on graduation. The scale then runs $84,306 at 3rd grade in year two, $89,927 at 2nd grade in year three and $112,408 at 1st grade, which the department says is reached about three and a half years after the academy begins. EVERY FIGURE HERE IS SET BY THE CONTRACT ITSELF. Article 27.1.1 of the 2026-2028 collective bargaining agreement between the City and the Denver Police Protective Association prints the annual salary of a Police Officer 1st Grade on six dates, and Article 27.1.2 fixes every other position as a percentage of it - a Police Officer 4th Grade is paid 70% of 1st Grade pay. Applying that to the contract's own $112,408 from 1 January 2026 gives $78,686, exactly the figure the department publishes, which is what makes the rest of the series trustworthy. The 2025 scale, before this contract, paid a recruit $71,633 and a 4th grade officer $77,143. Entry is open to candidates with no prior law enforcement experience: applicants need a high school diploma or GED and eligibility for Colorado POST certification, which the academy provides. Excluded as add-ons: longevity pay of $20 a month for each year of service after five years, the education incentive of $75 a month for an associate degree or $150 for a bachelor's, bilingual pay of $100 to $200 a month, the $875 annual equipment allowance, the one-time $1,500 payment to new hires, overtime, call-back and court time.
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.
Entry pay through 2028
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
How this level compares
Where Denver 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. Denver starts at $78,686, so $7,399 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Denver Police Department officer make?
Denver Police Department starts a new officer on $78,686 a year, about $37.83 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 and County of Denver and Denver Police Protective Association, collective bargaining agreement 2026-2028, Article 27 (Pay Rates and Longevity), effective 1 January 2026; confirmed against the Denver Police Department's own published 2026 salary scale.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Colorado?
It ranks #15 of 35 agencies we have verified in Colorado — 20 pay less, 14 pay more in the state — and #434 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,296 above, and against other municipal agencies $7,422 above.
What shifts do Denver Police Department officers work?
Denver officers work ten-hour shifts with three consecutive days off. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Denver 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 Denver | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado State Patrol | State | 706 | $91,620 | +$12,934 | #184 |
| 2 | Parker Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $89,898 | +$11,212 | #217 |
| 3 | Johnstown Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $86,944 | +$8,258 | #266 |
| 4 | Broomfield Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $86,029 | +$7,343 | #278 |
| 5 | Golden Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $85,321 | +$6,635 | #287 |
| 6 | Lakewood Police Department | Municipal | 274 | $85,093 | +$6,407 | #291 |
| 7 | Breckenridge Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $83,990 | +$5,304 | #310 |
| 8 | Thornton Police Department | Municipal | 243 | $82,992 | +$4,306 | #332 |
| 9 | Commerce City Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $82,327 | +$3,641 | #341 |
| 10 | Larimer County Sheriff's Office | County | 228 | $81,765 | +$3,079 | #353 |
| 11 | Westminster Police Department | Municipal | 187 | $80,746 | +$2,060 | #387 |
| 12 | Boulder County Sheriff's Office | County | 106 | $80,496 | +$1,810 | #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.
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