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El Mirage 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 Mirage Police Department starts at $71,573 a year — about $34.41 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,183 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $309 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isEl Mirage Police Department reported 53 sworn officers and 21 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 36,598.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 Mirage says about itself
The El Mirage Police is proud of its grand heritage and bright future! We strive to provide first class police service and a safe, secure community to the residents of El Mirage.
What El Mirage does
El Mirage Police Department serves a small Maricopa County city in the north-west of the Phoenix metropolitan area, providing 24-hour emergency response from Cinnabar Avenue. Its Operations Division holds a patrol bureau covering the city's boundaries and an investigations bureau staffed by senior officers experienced across the range of police work, alongside a Neighborhood Enforcement Team specialising in weapons and drugs offences and a victim assistance unit supporting victims of crime.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of El Mirage of — open the source document
FY2026-27 official recruit rate is $34.41/hour = $71,572.80 annually. The recruit classification is the first level in the sworn Police series and prepares the employee for Police Officer appointment; no separate graduation-day increase is published in the current official source, so this documented rate is retained rather than inferred upward
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 El Mirage 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. El Mirage starts at $71,573, so $286 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a El Mirage Police Department officer make?
El Mirage Police Department starts a new officer on $71,573 a year, about $34.41 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 Mirage of.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arizona?
It ranks #7 of 26 agencies we have verified in Arizona — 19 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #693 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,183 above, and against other municipal agencies $309 above.
Compare with another department
Put El Mirage 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 AZ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs El | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goodyear Police Department | Municipal | 174 | $77,147 | +$5,574 | #475 |
| 2 | Phoenix Police Department | Municipal | 2,490 | $75,847 | +$4,274 | #526 |
| 3 | Queen Creek Police Department | Municipal | 132 | $74,693 | +$3,120 | #569 |
| 4 | Chandler Police Department | Municipal | 348 | $74,610 | +$3,037 | #573 |
| 5 | Mesa Police Department | Municipal | 885 | $73,972 | +$2,399 | #596 |
| 6 | Casa Grande Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $72,860 | +$1,287 | #632 |
| 8 | Maricopa Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $71,074 | −$499 | #719 |
| 9 | Flagstaff Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $68,203 | −$3,370 | #850 |
| 10 | Navajo County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $67,496 | −$4,077 | #892 |
| 11 | Bullhead City Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $67,038 | −$4,534 | #914 |
| 12 | Show Low Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $66,581 | −$4,992 | #943 |
| 13 | Apache Junction Police Department | Municipal | 88 | $65,874 | −$5,699 | #974 |
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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