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Fort Smith 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.
Fort Smith Police Department starts at $50,003 a year — about $24.04 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $18,387 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $21,261 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Fort Smith, AR-OK run about 14% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $58,219 would somewhere at average prices — $8,216 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 53 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isFort Smith Police Department reported 155 sworn officers and 46 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 90,848.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.
About Fort Smith
Fort Smith Police Department provides municipal law-enforcement service through its uniformed Police Officer ranks.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Fort Smith Uniform - Police Department Pay Schedule 2026 — open the source document
Current City schedule lists Police Officer/Corporal grade P1 Entry at $24.04/hour / $50,003.20 annually. The published Entry annual rate is used. Class: Police Officer / Corporal. Trainee class: No lower recruit/cadet salary appears in the current 2026 uniformed Police Department pay schedule. City pay schedule classifies Police Officer/Corporal within the uniformed Police Department.
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 Fort Smith 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. Fort Smith starts at $50,003, so $21,284 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fort Smith Police Department officer make?
Fort Smith Police Department starts a new officer on $50,003 a year, about $24.04 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 Fort Smith Uniform - Police Department Pay Schedule 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arkansas?
It ranks #7 of 9 agencies we have verified in Arkansas — 2 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #1,563 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $18,387 below, and against other municipal agencies $21,261 below.
Compare with another department
Put Fort Smith 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 AR
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Fort | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas State Police | State | — | $67,675 | +$17,672 | #880 |
| 2 | Rogers Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $61,363 | +$11,360 | #1,180 |
| 3 | Little Rock Police Department | Municipal | 535 | $57,928 | +$7,925 | #1,326 |
| 4 | Fayetteville Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,699 | +$7,696 | #1,347 |
| 5 | North Little Rock Police Department | Municipal | 175 | $55,068 | +$5,065 | #1,428 |
| 6 | Conway Police Department | Municipal | 127 | $50,924 | +$920 | #1,535 |
| 8 | Arkansas Game and Fish Commission — Enforcement Division | State | — | $50,000 | −$3 | #1,565 |
| 9 | Faulkner County Sheriff's Office | County | 54 | $48,357 | −$1,646 | #1,593 |
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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