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Elk Grove 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.
Elk Grove Police Department starts at $88,171 a year — about $42.39 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $21,486 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $20,031 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $79,634 somewhere at average prices — $8,537 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 isElk Grove Police Department reported 160 sworn officers and 122 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 0.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 184,388.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 Elk Grove says about itself
The Elk Grove Police Department is a public safety agency charged with the preservation of constitutional rights, maintenance of civil order, assurance of public health and safety, detection and prevention of crime, the enforcement of federal and state law, and the administration of the laws, ordinances and regulations of the City. Our mission is to continually improve the quality of life in Elk Grove, and through dedicated and highly skilled staff we aspire to deliver world-class public safety service that meets the changing needs of a diverse community through partnerships built on mutual respect and trust.
What Elk Grove does
Elk Grove Police Department serves a Sacramento County city of more than 176,000, divided into five police beats, and answers roughly 85,000 calls for service a year. It has an authorized strength of 153 sworn officers and 115 professional staff across four divisions. Field Services is the largest, running six patrol teams alongside the traffic bureau, canine officers and a crisis response team; Investigative Services covers general detectives and a street crimes unit working gang, drug and vice offences; and administrative and support services hold dispatch, records, property and evidence. The department also assigns three school resource officers to the Elk Grove Unified School District.
Shifts at Elk Grove
Elk Grove's patrol division is six teams working Days, Swings and Nights, each under a watch commander.
Days, swings and nights each look different on a calendar. BlueShifts marks every shift with a sun, a moon or a 24-hour clock, so a month's roster reads at a glance.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $88,171 annually upon appointment to sworn Police Officer - Entry Level after successful academy completion. — open the source document
2026 recruitment / current City budget page $88,171 annually upon appointment to sworn Police Officer - Entry Level after successful academy completion. Official City of Elk Grove recruitment states the trainee is non-sworn while preparing for/attending the academy; after successful completion the incumbent is appointed to
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 Elk Grove 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. Elk Grove starts at $88,171, so $20,031 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Elk Grove Police Department officer make?
Elk Grove Police Department starts a new officer on $88,171 a year, about $42.39 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 $88,171 annually upon appointment to sworn Police Officer - Entry Level after successful academy completion..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #196 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 82 pay less, 195 pay more in the state — and #303 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $21,486 above, and against other municipal agencies $20,031 above.
What shifts do Elk Grove Police Department officers work?
Elk Grove's patrol division is six teams working Days, Swings and Nights, each under a watch commander. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Elk Grove 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 Elk | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$75,448 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$61,272 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$59,771 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$55,832 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$54,925 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$52,853 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$51,569 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$50,794 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$50,090 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$44,223 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$44,092 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$43,865 | #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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