Grand Junction Police Department entry pay

What Grand Junction says about itself

The Grand Junction Police Department has grown from the first single town marshal to over 130 sworn officers who serve our community in various roles.

What Grand Junction does

The Grand Junction Police Department is the municipal police agency for Grand Junction, Colorado, the largest city on Colorado's Western Slope and the seat of Mesa County. Established in 1882, it is organized into three divisions — Police Operations, Services, and Special Teams — staffed by both sworn officers and civilian personnel. The department also houses the Grand Junction Regional Communication Center, which provides 911 dispatch for roughly 25 public safety agencies across Western Colorado. It describes its approach as community-oriented policing built on partnerships with schools, faith-based groups, civic organizations and residents.

Where the figure comes from

Checked 21 September 2026. City of Grand Junction Police Department "Pay & Benefits" recruiting page and its posted police pay graphic, "$39.69/HOUR $82,555/ANNUALLY — Patrol Officer Starting Salary". — open the source document
The figure is the Grand Junction Police Department's starting base salary for a patrol officer, published by the City of Grand Junction on the police department's own Pay & Benefits recruiting page. The page carries a pay graphic that states the entry rate two ways — "$39.69/HOUR" and "$82,555/ANNUALLY" — labelled "Patrol Officer Starting Salary", so the pay basis is stated unambiguously on the document itself and the two figures reconcile at a 2,080-hour year. The page footnotes the scale's effective date directly: "*Pay scale shown is effective March 2025." That March 2025 effective date is the only date the city attaches to this scale; as of the September 21, 2026 check the city was still publishing it as current, so the figure is live but is not a newly dated 2026 scale. On the gate question, the department runs a six-step scale and says so in terms that make the entry point explicit: "Six pay steps are included in the pay scale, meaning you can attain the top of our pay scale after only five years of service. Step 1 is the entry-level salary after graduating from the training academy." Step 1 is therefore the correct entry figure, and the gate below it is academy graduation — a training gate, not prior sworn service, so it does not disqualify the figure. The gate above it is time in service: an officer climbs to the sixth step, "$56.64/HOUR $117,811/ANNUALLY — Patrol Officer Salary after 5 Years", after roughly five years. Three things on this page could mislead a reader. First, the graphic's top line reads "$39.69/HOUR — Sponsored Academy Recruit Pay": Grand Junction pays its sponsored academy recruits the same $39.69 hourly rate as a Step 1 officer, so a reader skimming the graphic may think the $39.69 figure is a cadet rate. It is not being used as one here — the $82,555 published on the very next line is the post-academy Patrol Officer starting salary, and the coincidence of rates simply means Grand Junction does not discount recruit pay. Second, lateral officers do not start at Step 1: "LATERAL OFFICERS will be brought in at a salary commensurate with their years of experience." Step 1 remains the no-prior-service entry point. Third, the graphic advertises "LATERAL INCENTIVES" of "Up to a $5,000 signing bonus" and "Up to $2,500 reimbursement for relocation expenses"; both are capped one-time incentives offered only to laterals, they are stated as ceilings rather than figures, and they are not part of the $82,555. The page is explicit that nothing extra is folded into the scale: "This pay plan is the base pay rate and does not reflect overtime." Holiday pay and a deferred compensation plan with employer match are listed separately under Benefits, confirming they sit outside the base figure rather than inside it.
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 Grand Junction sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.

How it ranks

Common questions

How much does a Grand Junction Police Department officer make?

Grand Junction Police Department starts a new officer on $82,555 a year, about $39.69 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 Grand Junction Police Department "Pay & Benefits" recruiting page and its posted police pay graphic, "$39.69/HOUR $82,555/ANNUALLY — Patrol Officer Starting Salary"..

Is that good pay for a police officer in Colorado?

It ranks #15 of 46 agencies we have verified in Colorado — 31 pay less, 14 pay more in the state — and #416 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $15,870 above, and against other municipal agencies $14,415 above.

The agencies either side of it