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Gaithersburg 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.
Gaithersburg Police Department starts at $70,000 a year — about $33.65 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,610 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,264 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $64,289 somewhere at average prices — $5,711 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 151 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. 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 isGaithersburg Police Department reported 66 sworn officers and 14 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 0.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 70,993.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 Gaithersburg says about itself
The mission of the Gaithersburg Police Department is to provide the highest quality police service; protect life and property, enforce Maryland laws and City ordinances, and protect the rights of all people.
What Gaithersburg does
Gaithersburg Police Department provides municipal law-enforcement services focused on protecting life and property, preventing and investigating crime, maintaining order and serving the community. Official City materials emphasize professional policing, community partnership, public safety, crime prevention and responsive service
Shifts at Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg's Operations Bureau is on patrol 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and patrol shifts are assigned permanent hours - day shift, evening shift, or midnight shift.
Permanent hours mean your body clock stays put, but court dates, overtime and family plans still have to fit around a fixed watch. BlueShifts keeps them all on one calendar.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Gaithersburg official Police R — open the source document
Current official entry-level recruiting page verified 8 August 2026; starting salary $70,000;
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 Gaithersburg 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. Gaithersburg starts at $70,000, so $1,287 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Gaithersburg Police Department officer make?
Gaithersburg Police Department starts a new officer on $70,000 a year, about $33.65 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 Gaithersburg official Police R.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Maryland?
It ranks #10 of 26 agencies we have verified in Maryland — 16 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #771 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,610 above, and against other municipal agencies $1,264 below.
What shifts do Gaithersburg Police Department officers work?
Gaithersburg's Operations Bureau is on patrol 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and patrol shifts are assigned permanent hours - day shift, evening shift, or midnight shift. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Gaithersburg 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 MD
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Gaithersburg | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rockville City Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,256 | +$5,256 | #547 |
| 2 | Maryland Transit Administration Police Force | State | — | $72,829 | +$2,829 | #635 |
| 3 | Anne Arundel County Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $72,802 | +$2,802 | #636 |
| 4 | Frederick Police Department | Municipal | 151 | $71,351 | +$1,351 | #703 |
| 5 | Maryland Transportation Authority Police | State | 392 | $71,258 | +$1,258 | #710 |
| 6 | St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office | County | 167 | $71,011 | +$1,011 | #720 |
| 7 | Prince George's County Police Department | County | 1,343 | $70,257 | +$257 | #754 |
| 8 | Worcester County Sheriff's Office | County | 91 | $70,221 | +$221 | #757 |
| 9 | Wicomico County Sheriff's Office | County | 97 | $70,000 | same | #768 |
| 11 | Maryland State Police | State | 1,434 | $69,360 | −$640 | #795 |
| 12 | Maryland Natural Resources Police | State | 263 | $68,673 | −$1,327 | #828 |
| 13 | Baltimore Police Department | Municipal | 2,051 | $68,359 | −$1,641 | #842 |
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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