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Des Moines 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.
Des Moines Police Department starts at $84,635 a year — about $40.69 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $16,245 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $13,371 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA run about 8% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $92,295 would somewhere at average prices — $7,660 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 85 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 isDes Moines Police Department reported 367 sworn officers and 107 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 212,933.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 Des Moines says about itself
The Des Moines Police Department works in partnership with our community to protect lives and property, and to enforce laws impartially.
What Des Moines does
Des Moines Police Department is the largest municipal law enforcement agency in Iowa, created in 1869 when the state capital held around 12,000 residents and now serving a population of some 214,000 with 373 sworn officers and 105 civilian support staff. Its patrol section is the largest and most visible unit, supported by specialised units covering traffic, K-9, homeland security, an airport unit at Des Moines International, animal care and neighbourhood-based service delivery. Its investigations division includes a Domestic Abuse Resource Team working alongside a victim advocate from Children and Families of Iowa, and a victim resource officer whose responsibilities include notifying families after violent deaths. The city no longer operates its own jail; prisoners are taken to the Polk County Jail, and new officers train at the Des Moines Regional Police Academy.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Des Moines official 2026 Police — open the source document
Opened 6 July 2026; official Police Officer minimum $40.69/hour = $84,635.20 annually. The recruitment expressly accepts entrance-level applicants with a high-school diploma/GED and no prior police experience. Lateral placement and other add-ons 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 Des Moines 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. Des Moines starts at $84,635, so $13,348 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Des Moines Police Department officer make?
Des Moines Police Department starts a new officer on $84,635 a year, about $40.69 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 Des Moines official 2026 Police.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #2 of 28 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 26 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #297 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $16,245 above, and against other municipal agencies $13,371 above.
Compare with another department
Put Des Moines 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 Des | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$915 | #281 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | −$7,925 | #486 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | −$7,987 | #491 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | −$8,607 | #516 |
| 6 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | −$10,691 | #597 |
| 7 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | −$11,419 | #616 |
| 8 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | −$12,813 | #678 |
| 9 | Mason City Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $71,448 | −$13,187 | #698 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | −$13,764 | #732 |
| 11 | Iowa Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Law Enforcement | State | — | $70,574 | −$14,061 | #742 |
| 12 | Davenport Police Department | Municipal | 143 | $70,322 | −$14,313 | #752 |
| 13 | Clinton County Sheriff's Office | County | 30 | $70,200 | −$14,435 | #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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