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Greenville 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.
Greenville Police Department starts at $49,941 a year — about $24.01 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $16,744 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $18,199 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Greenville, NC run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $56,493 would somewhere at average prices — $6,552 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 57 against a national average of 100, 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 isGreenville Police Department reported 186 sworn officers and 53 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 96,214.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 Greenville says about itself
The Greenville Police Department is a nationally accredited law enforcement agency that strives to provide a high quality of law enforcement services through a departmental philosophy of community-oriented policing. The agency is comprised of more than 200 sworn officers and 53 non-sworn employees and serves a 36-mile area.
What Greenville does
Greenville Police Department describes itself as a nationally accredited agency providing a full range of law-enforcement services through community-oriented policing. Entry trainees receive paid BLET preparation before graduating into certified Police Officer service for the City
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Greenville official FY2025/26 Pay Plan and 2026 Polic — open the source document
Official pay plan lists Police Officer minimum $49,940.80 annually; current trainee recruitment opened 26 May 2026 and requires no experience, with trainees graduating as certified City Police Officers after BLET. Trainee pay is excluded
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 Greenville 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 | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| 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 $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Greenville starts at $49,941, so $18,199 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Greenville Police Department officer make?
Greenville Police Department starts a new officer on $49,941 a year, about $24.01 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 Greenville official FY2025/26 Pay Plan and 2026 Polic.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Carolina?
It ranks #46 of 53 agencies we have verified in North Carolina — 7 pay less, 45 pay more in the state — and #2,087 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $16,744 below, and against other municipal agencies $18,199 below.
Compare with another department
Put Greenville 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 Greenville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knightdale Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $67,363 | +$17,422 | #1,104 |
| 2 | Cary Police Department | Municipal | 194 | $65,104 | +$15,163 | #1,247 |
| 3 | Wake Forest Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $65,093 | +$15,152 | #1,248 |
| 4 | Appalachian State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 36 | $64,084 | +$14,143 | #1,312 |
| 5 | North Carolina State Highway Patrol | State | — | $63,250 | +$13,309 | #1,368 |
| 6 | Huntersville Police Department | Municipal | 92 | $62,647 | +$12,706 | #1,400 |
| 7 | Apex Police Department | Municipal | 104 | $62,524 | +$12,583 | #1,408 |
| 8 | Fuquay-Varina Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $62,291 | +$12,350 | #1,430 |
| 9 | Johnston County Sheriff's Office | County | 124 | $62,213 | +$12,272 | #1,436 |
| 10 | Chapel Hill Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $61,451 | +$11,510 | #1,477 |
| 11 | Raleigh Police Department | Municipal | 713 | $61,417 | +$11,476 | #1,478 |
| 12 | Duke University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 57 | $60,195 | +$10,254 | #1,551 |
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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