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Detroit 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.
Detroit Police Department starts at $53,000 a year — about $25.48 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $15,390 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $18,264 below the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isDetroit Police Department reported 2,621 sworn officers and 785 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 4.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 642,155.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 Detroit says about itself
The Detroit Police Department's (DPD) mission is to encourage thoughtful decision-making and a strong sense of community responsibility through education, equity empathy, professionalism, transparency, and policing standards properly informed by community input and civic leadership.
What Detroit does
Detroit Police Department provides municipal patrol, investigative and public-safety law-enforcement services and trains entry-level officers through the Detroit Police Academy.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 15 August 2026. City of Detroit — announcement of the Detroit Police Officers Association collective bargaining agreement — open the source document
Under the DPOA contract announced by the City in September 2022 and approved by City Council that November, starting pay for an officer coming out of the academy rose from $43,000 to $53,000, with a further 4% in each of the next four years. Pay at four years' service rose from $60,000 to $73,000.
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 Detroit 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. Detroit starts at $53,000, so $18,287 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Detroit Police Department officer make?
Detroit Police Department starts a new officer on $53,000 a year, about $25.48 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 Detroit — announcement of the Detroit Police Officers Association collective bargaining agreement.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Michigan?
It ranks #33 of 38 agencies we have verified in Michigan — 5 pay less, 32 pay more in the state — and #1,499 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $15,390 below, and against other municipal agencies $18,264 below.
Compare with another department
Put Detroit 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 Detroit | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Troy Police Department | Municipal | 110 | $78,224 | +$25,224 | #452 |
| 2 | Grand Rapids Police Department | Municipal | 299 | $77,467 | +$24,467 | #471 |
| 3 | Wyoming Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $75,400 | +$22,400 | #539 |
| 4 | Sumpter Township Police Department | Municipal | 18 | $71,732 | +$18,732 | #684 |
| 5 | Lincoln Charter Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $71,696 | +$18,696 | #686 |
| 6 | Macomb County Sheriff's Office | County | 274 | $71,098 | +$18,098 | #718 |
| 7 | Muskegon Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $69,888 | +$16,888 | #781 |
| 8 | Livonia Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $69,784 | +$16,784 | #783 |
| 9 | Dearborn Police Department | Municipal | 186 | $69,080 | +$16,080 | #810 |
| 10 | Plymouth Township Police Department | Municipal | 33 | $68,140 | +$15,140 | #852 |
| 11 | Oscoda Township Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $68,140 | +$15,140 | #853 |
| 12 | Northville Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $65,956 | +$12,956 | #969 |
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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