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El Cajon 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.
El Cajon Police Department starts at $105,106 a year — about $50.53 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $38,421 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $36,966 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $94,929 somewhere at average prices — $10,176 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 159 against a national average of 100, where goods are 106. 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 isEl Cajon Police Department reported 123 sworn officers and 50 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 102,604.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 El Cajon says about itself
The El Cajon Police Department is structured into a number of divisions, covering such areas as Patrol, Traffic Enforcement, Animal Control, Records, Investigations, Reserves, and various volunteer groups.
What El Cajon does
The El Cajon Police Department serves the city of El Cajon, California, in eastern San Diego County. The City prices it on a citywide compensation plan that places sworn Police Officers in the police association bargaining group and the Police Recruit class in an unrepresented general group, so the pre-academy class and the sworn class are separated by unit as well as by rate. The association agreement sets a twenty-eight day work period of 160 hours for sworn employees.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. City of El Cajon Citywide Compensation Plan — "POLICE OFFICER 1 50.5316 $ POA NON-EXEMPT 06/20/26". — open the source document
$50.5316 an hour is the City's own Step 1 rate and IS THE ONLY FORM THE CITY PUBLISHES IT IN. $105,105.73 is that rate at 2,080 hours, the same annualisation this roster applies to every hourly-only source, named here rather than hidden. THE RECRUIT CLASS IS ON THE SAME PLAN AND IS DELIBERATELY NOT THE FIGURE: "POLICE RECRUIT 1 38.5493 $ UNREP-GEN EXEMPT 06/20/26", and note the detail that settles any doubt - the recruit sits in a DIFFERENT BARGAINING GROUP, unrepresented general rather than the police association, so the City treats it as a distinct class and not a step of the sworn ladder. Excluded from the figure: every incentive, allowance and differential the plan prices apart from the hourly rate. THE FIGURE IS DATED BY THE PLAN ITSELF, 20 June 2026, on a document last updated 15 August 2026.
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 El Cajon 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. El Cajon starts at $105,106, so $36,966 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a El Cajon Police Department officer make?
El Cajon Police Department starts a new officer on $105,106 a year, about $50.53 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 El Cajon Citywide Compensation Plan — "POLICE OFFICER 1 50.5316 $ POA NON-EXEMPT 06/20/26"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #82 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 196 pay less, 81 pay more in the state — and #86 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $38,421 above, and against other municipal agencies $36,966 above.
Compare with another department
Put El Cajon 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs El | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$58,513 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$44,337 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$42,836 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$38,898 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$37,990 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$35,918 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$34,634 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$33,859 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$33,155 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$27,288 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$27,157 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$26,930 | #12 |
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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