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Gwinnett County 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.
Gwinnett County Police Department starts at $55,923 a year — about $26.89 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,762 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $12,217 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Georgia run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $58,076 would somewhere at average prices — $2,153 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 89 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single metro 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 isGwinnett County Police Department reported 682 sworn officers and 383 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025.No rate is shown: this agency does not police a single population the FBI publishes a figure for. 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 Gwinnett County says about itself
The Gwinnett County Police Department is committed to serving the community through the delivery of professional law enforcement services in an unbiased and compassionate manner in order to protect the lives and property of the citizens and improve the quality of life in our community.
What Gwinnett County does
GCPD is a nationally accredited metropolitan police agency serving approximately one million residents.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. Gwinnett County Police Department, Police Officer Salary and Benefits: "Police Officer Trainee: $55,923" with "Full salary while attending the police academy" — open the source document
RE-SOURCED 20 September 2026 off a GovernmentJobs posting and onto the Department's own salary and benefits page. The figure is unchanged at $55,923 and the entry test is now settled in the Department's own words rather than inferred. THE ACADEMY QUESTION IS ANSWERED ON THE PAGE: trainees receive FULL SALARY WHILE ATTENDING THE POLICE ACADEMY, so there is no separate lower academy wage and no higher post-academy step being passed over - the class runs Police Officer Trainee at $55,923, then automatic promotion to Police Officer Senior at $62,520 after one year on successful completion, which is a later step and is not used. Prior sworn service is handled by a separate lateral recruitment, not by this figure. Excluded: the $5,300 hiring incentive, the annual 4 per cent step increases within the twelve-step pay system, the 5 per cent night shift differential and the thirteen paid holidays. The $86,090 in the old GovernmentJobs title was the top of the Police Officer I band and is a ceiling, not a step.
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 Gwinnett County 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. Gwinnett County starts at $55,923, so $12,217 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Gwinnett County Police Department officer make?
Gwinnett County Police Department starts a new officer on $55,923 a year, about $26.89 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 Gwinnett County Police Department, Police Officer Salary and Benefits: "Police Officer Trainee: $55,923" with "Full salary while attending the police academy".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #40 of 80 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 40 pay less, 39 pay more in the state — and #1,799 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,762 below, and against other municipal agencies $12,217 below.
Compare with another department
Put Gwinnett County 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Gwinnett | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chamblee Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $73,733 | +$17,810 | #729 |
| 2 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$15,763 | #836 |
| 3 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$9,054 | #1,265 |
| 4 | Duluth Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $64,755 | +$8,832 | #1,279 |
| 5 | Garden City Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $64,072 | +$8,149 | #1,314 |
| 6 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | +$7,761 | #1,336 |
| 7 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | +$7,517 | #1,354 |
| 8 | Hall County Sheriff's Office | County | 283 | $63,365 | +$7,442 | #1,359 |
| 9 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | +$6,539 | #1,413 |
| 10 | Dunwoody Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $62,301 | +$6,378 | #1,428 |
| 11 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | +$6,066 | #1,450 |
| 12 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | +$5,177 | #1,495 |
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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