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Gastonia 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.
Gastonia Police Department starts at $54,644 a year — about $26.27 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,746 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $16,620 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC run about 3% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $56,133 would somewhere at average prices — $1,489 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 89, where goods are 97. 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 isGastonia Police Department reported 161 sworn officers and 32 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 86,826.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 Gastonia says about itself
The Gastonia Police Department is the second largest urban police department in the Charlotte/Gaston County area. The GPD's mission is to Protect, Serve and Enhance the Quality of Life for All. The GPD patrols the city's 51.5 square miles and protects more than 72,500 residents.
What Gastonia does
Gastonia Police Officers perform community policing, patrol, calls for service, law enforcement, investigations, arrests and court testimony. The City's cadet program is designed for applicants who have not completed BLET and sponsors them through the academy before advancement to Police Officer service
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Gastonia official GovernmentJobs Police Officer I/II/III recruitment — open the source document
Our $54,644 figure was the Police Officer I minimum, not the academy/trainee figure. The official Police Officer I/II/III recruitment identifies Police Officer I as the certified officer classification; the trainee/cadet route is separate.
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 Gastonia 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. Gastonia starts at $54,644, so $16,643 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Gastonia Police Department officer make?
Gastonia Police Department starts a new officer on $54,644 a year, about $26.27 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 Gastonia official GovernmentJobs Police Officer I/II/III recruitment.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Carolina?
It ranks #19 of 40 agencies we have verified in North Carolina — 21 pay less, 18 pay more in the state — and #1,445 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,746 below, and against other municipal agencies $16,620 below.
Compare with another department
Put Gastonia 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 NC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Gastonia | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knightdale Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $67,363 | +$12,719 | #902 |
| 2 | Cary Police Department | Municipal | 194 | $65,104 | +$10,460 | #1,012 |
| 3 | Wake Forest Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $65,093 | +$10,449 | #1,013 |
| 4 | Appalachian State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 36 | $64,084 | +$9,440 | #1,057 |
| 5 | North Carolina State Highway Patrol | State | — | $63,250 | +$8,606 | #1,100 |
| 6 | Johnston County Sheriff's Office | County | 124 | $62,213 | +$7,569 | #1,147 |
| 7 | Chapel Hill Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $61,451 | +$6,807 | #1,176 |
| 8 | Raleigh Police Department | Municipal | 713 | $61,417 | +$6,773 | #1,177 |
| 9 | Duke University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 57 | $60,195 | +$5,551 | #1,227 |
| 10 | Greensboro Police Department | Municipal | 582 | $59,509 | +$4,865 | #1,268 |
| 11 | Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department | Municipal | 1,702 | $59,502 | +$4,858 | #1,269 |
| 12 | Rolesville Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $59,304 | +$4,660 | #1,274 |
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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