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Falls Church 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.
Falls Church Police Department starts at $76,400 a year — about $36.73 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,010 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $5,136 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Virginia run about 1% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $75,566 somewhere at average prices — $834 less than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 92, where goods are 100. 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 isFalls Church Police Department reported 32 sworn officers and 15 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 15,166.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 Falls Church says about itself
The vision and mission of the Falls Church Police Department are to ensure the highest quality of public safety services with the utmost regard for the sanctity of life through integrity and respect for human rights, the Constitution of the United States, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and its laws.
What Falls Church does
Falls Church Police Department says its vision is to ensure the highest quality of public-safety services and its mission is to promote public safety with the highest regard for the sanctity of life, integrity and respect for human rights and the Constitution. Its core values include protection of life, community engagement, respect, accountability and integrity, fairness, professionalism and innovation
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Falls Chu — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 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 Falls Church 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. Falls Church starts at $76,400, so $5,113 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Falls Church Police Department officer make?
Falls Church Police Department starts a new officer on $76,400 a year, about $36.73 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 Falls Chu.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Virginia?
It ranks #2 of 36 agencies we have verified in Virginia — 34 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #496 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,010 above, and against other municipal agencies $5,136 above.
Compare with another department
Put Falls Church 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 VA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Falls | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlington County Police Department | County | 299 | $90,012 | +$13,612 | #215 |
| 3 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 264 | $75,000 | −$1,400 | #560 |
| 4 | Fairfax County Police Department | County | 1,390 | $74,035 | −$2,365 | #593 |
| 5 | Prince William County Police Department | County | 656 | $74,000 | −$2,400 | #595 |
| 6 | Loudoun County Sheriff's Office | County | 648 | $70,955 | −$5,445 | #727 |
| 7 | Leesburg Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $68,500 | −$7,900 | #834 |
| 8 | Prince William County Sheriff's Office | County | 656 | $66,596 | −$9,804 | #941 |
| 9 | Henrico County Police Division | County | 628 | $65,959 | −$10,441 | #968 |
| 10 | Fairfax County Sheriff's Office | County | 433 | $64,997 | −$11,403 | #1,025 |
| 11 | Richmond Police Department | Municipal | 608 | $63,360 | −$13,040 | #1,091 |
| 12 | Hanover County Sheriff's Office | County | 247 | $63,345 | −$13,055 | #1,093 |
| 13 | Chesterfield County Police Department | County | 499 | $62,751 | −$13,649 | #1,118 |
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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