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Elizabeth 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.
Elizabeth Police Department starts at $45,275 a year — about $21.77 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $21,410 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $22,865 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New Jersey run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $41,611 somewhere at average prices — $3,664 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 134 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.
How big the department isElizabeth Police Department reported 337 sworn officers and 112 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 141,194.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 Elizabeth says about itself
The Elizabeth Police Department is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in New Jersey. The department consists of approximately 350 officers and 80 civilian employees that work diligently to manage the thirteen divisions that aid the City of Elizabeth's six wards.
What Elizabeth does
The Elizabeth Police Department serves Elizabeth, New Jersey, the seat of Union County, and is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the state with about 350 officers and 80 civilian employees across thirteen divisions covering the city's six wards. Its officers are represented by PBA Local 4, whose agreement puts patrol on a four-and-four schedule and detectives and special units on four-and-three, with patrol assignments made by seniority.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. NJ PERC-filed agreement, City of Elizabeth and PBA Local 4, Article XXXV Wages — "1st 6 months of employment", 7-01-2021 column: 45,275. — open the source document
$45,275 is the guide's own figure for the first six months of employment in its last printed column and no arithmetic has been applied to it. ELIZABETH IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE NEW JERSEY TRAP AND THAT IS WHY THIS FIGURE IS CLEAN: the guide carries NO academy, probationary or sub-step rate of any kind beneath the first line, and it never mentions the academy at all. The first line is itself a six-month TIME step, so the gate is time served rather than graduation, and the entry rate and the rate an officer is paid coming out of the academy are the same number. There is no lower training rate to quote alongside it because the City does not publish one. Excluded from the figure: the detective stipend, which the agreement raises "from $3,500.00 to $3,750.00 per year", and the education increments of one to three and two to six per cent of pensionable base by degree. THE CONTRACT HAS EXPIRED AND THAT IS NAMED: the 7-01-2021 column is the last printed and the term ran to 30 June 2022, so this is the most recent guide the City has filed rather than a current-year rate. NEXT DOCUMENT: the successor PBA Local 4 agreement from 1 July 2022, which is not on PERC, or an Elizabeth salary ordinance from the City Clerk.
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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Entry pay, 2018–2021
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
How this level compares
Where Elizabeth 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. Elizabeth starts at $45,275, so $22,865 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Elizabeth Police Department officer make?
Elizabeth Police Department starts a new officer on $45,275 a year, about $21.77 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 NJ PERC-filed agreement, City of Elizabeth and PBA Local 4, Article XXXV Wages — "1st 6 months of employment", 7-01-2021 column: 45,275..
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Jersey?
It ranks #27 of 27 agencies we have verified in New Jersey — 0 pay less, 26 pay more in the state — and #2,200 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $21,410 below, and against other municipal agencies $22,865 below.
Compare with another department
Put Elizabeth 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 NJ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Elizabeth | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — Fish & Wildlife Conservation Police | State | — | $74,153 | +$28,878 | #711 |
| 2 | New Jersey State Police | State | 3,351 | $64,956 | +$19,681 | #1,268 |
| 3 | Galloway Township Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $64,236 | +$18,961 | #1,307 |
| 4 | Monroe Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,736 | +$18,461 | #1,334 |
| 5 | New Jersey State Parole Board | State | — | $63,268 | +$17,993 | #1,367 |
| 6 | North Plainfield Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $59,036 | +$13,761 | #1,624 |
| 7 | Hamilton Township Police Division | Municipal | — | $59,000 | +$13,725 | #1,629 |
| 8 | Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $58,000 | +$12,725 | #1,679 |
| 9 | Vineland Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $58,000 | +$12,725 | #1,681 |
| 10 | Cherry Hill Township Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $57,322 | +$12,047 | #1,741 |
| 11 | Toms River Township Police Department | Municipal | 145 | $56,792 | +$11,517 | #1,760 |
| 12 | South Brunswick Police Department | Municipal | — | $55,165 | +$9,890 | #1,840 |
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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