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District of Columbia Housing Authority 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.
District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department starts at $69,156 a year — about $33.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $766 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $2,108 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in District of Columbia run about 10% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $62,926 somewhere at average prices — $6,230 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 155 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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.
About District of Columbia Housing Authority
The District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department, also known as the Office of Public Safety, is a round-the-clock police force patrolling the city's public housing developments. Its officers are sworn under D.C. Code and hold jurisdiction concurrent with the Metropolitan Police Department across the whole of the District, not merely on Authority property. Alongside 15 police officer posts the office fields senior police officers, special police officers and security officers, and it runs a Resident Officer Program under which officers live rent-free at designated properties.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 18 August 2026. District of Columbia Housing Authority, FY2026 Performance Oversight response to the Council of the District of Columbia's pre-hearing questions, Office of Public Safety personnel schedule (Question 64), posted 4 March 2026 — open the source document
THIS FIGURE IS READ FROM AN ACTUAL-SALARY ROSTER, NOT A PAY SCHEDULE, and that is a different basis from most rows on this site. The Authority's annual oversight response to the Council lists every Office of Public Safety post with its job title, date of hire and salary. In the FY2026 schedule the most recently hired officers - December 2024, June 2024, February 2024 and October 2023 - are each paid $69,156, two vacant Police Officer posts are budgeted at exactly that figure, and officers hired in March and May 2024 have since stepped up to $72,251, with longer-serving officers at $75,502, $78,912, $82,495 and $88,629. The newest hires and the budgeted vacancies at one identical figure is the rate the Authority hires at. TWO CLASSES AT THIS EMPLOYER MUST NOT BE CONFUSED, and the union contract in the same filing defines them: a POLICE OFFICER is a sworn officer of the DCHAPD, while a SPECIAL POLICE OFFICER is privately commissioned with arrest powers only within the premises they are employed to protect, on a commission renewed each year. Special Police Officers are paid $55,685, and that figure is EXCLUDED. Two Police Officer posts also show $55,685; they are excluded for the same reason, since the contract provides for a Special Police Officer who accepts a conditional offer as a Police Officer to enter the Police Training Academy while able to return to the former post. SENIOR POLICE OFFICER, at $79,482 on appointment, is also excluded: that class is open only to a retired sworn officer of the Metropolitan Police Department, so it is a rehire route rather than an entry one. Entry is open to candidates with NO PRIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT EXPERIENCE - a high school diploma or GED plus either thirty college credits or two years' military service will qualify - and recruits are trained at the Police Training Academy through phases covering the fundamentals of the Metropolitan Police Department and the D.C. Code. Excluded as add-ons: the 4% night differential for hours between 6pm and 6am, Sunday premium pay, overtime, and rent-free housing under the Resident Officer Program.
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 District of Columbia Housing Authority 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. District of Columbia Housing Authority starts at $69,156, so $2,131 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department officer make?
District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department starts a new officer on $69,156 a year, about $33.25 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 District of Columbia Housing Authority, FY2026 Performance Oversight response to the Council of the District of Columbia's pre-hearing questions, Office of Public Safety personnel schedule (Question 64), posted 4 March 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in District of Columbia?
It ranks #4 of 4 agencies we have verified in District of Columbia — 0 pay less, 3 pay more in the state — and #806 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $766 above, and against other municipal agencies $2,108 below.
Compare with another department
Put District of Columbia Housing Authority 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 DC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs District | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Police Department | Municipal | 3,300 | $75,433 | +$6,277 | #538 |
| 2 | Metro Transit Police Department (WMATA) | Special jurisdiction | — | $74,505 | +$5,349 | #578 |
| 3 | Amtrak Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $70,429 | +$1,273 | #750 |
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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