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Fairmont 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.
Fairmont Police Department starts at $53,597 a year — about $25.77 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,088 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $14,543 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in West Virginia run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $59,887 would somewhere at average prices — $6,290 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 54 against a national average of 100, where goods are 97. 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 isFairmont Police Department reported 33 sworn officers and 6 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 17,976.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 Fairmont says about itself
The department answers a wide variety of calls for service, from parking complaints and barking dogs to domestic violence and homicide. We dedicate ourselves to work in partnership with the community to fight crime, reduce fear and improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
What Fairmont does
Fairmont Police Department employs municipal Police Officers for patrol and law-enforcement service.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Fairmont New Police Officer Benefits — open the source document
Their source is effective 7 July 2025.
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 Fairmont 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. Fairmont starts at $53,597, so $14,543 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fairmont Police Department officer make?
Fairmont Police Department starts a new officer on $53,597 a year, about $25.77 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 City of Fairmont New Police Officer Benefits.
Is that good pay for a police officer in West Virginia?
It ranks #13 of 16 agencies we have verified in West Virginia — 3 pay less, 12 pay more in the state — and #1,935 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,088 below, and against other municipal agencies $14,543 below.
Compare with another department
Put Fairmont 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 WV
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Fairmont | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia State Police | State | 440 | $60,984 | +$7,387 | #1,507 |
| 2 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $59,187 | +$5,590 | #1,621 |
| 3 | Morgantown Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $58,157 | +$4,560 | #1,666 |
| 4 | Huntington Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $57,787 | +$4,190 | #1,702 |
| 5 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,485 | +$3,888 | #1,730 |
| 6 | Charles Town Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $57,462 | +$3,865 | #1,732 |
| 7 | Kanawha County Sheriff's Office | County | 95 | $57,054 | +$3,457 | #1,747 |
| 8 | Monongalia County Sheriff's Office | County | 35 | $56,300 | +$2,703 | #1,781 |
| 9 | Martinsburg Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $55,710 | +$2,113 | #1,809 |
| 10 | Wheeling Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $55,161 | +$1,564 | #1,842 |
| 11 | Jefferson County Sheriff's Office | County | 34 | $55,125 | +$1,528 | #1,844 |
| 12 | Moundsville Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $54,621 | +$1,024 | #1,882 |
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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