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Hamilton Township Police Division 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.
Hamilton Township Police Division starts at $59,000 a year — about $28.37 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,685 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $9,140 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New Jersey run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $54,225 somewhere at average prices — $4,775 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 134 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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.
What Hamilton Township says about itself
The Hamilton Police Division has 169 sworn officers covering an area of approximately 40 square miles, has 90,000 + residents and some 3,100 businesses, the Division answered 51,654 calls for service in 2018.
What Hamilton Township does
The Hamilton Township Police Division serves Hamilton Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, with 169 sworn officers over about forty square miles, more than 90,000 residents and some 3,100 businesses. Its officers are represented by PBA Local 66 under an agreement that replaced a fourteen-step guide with a twelve-step one, froze every step but the maximum, eliminated longevity for anyone hired after 2021, and runs three work charts side by side - five eight-hour days, a four-and-two at eight and a half hours, and twelve-hour platoons in the Patrol Bureau.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. NJ PERC-filed agreement, Township of Hamilton (Mercer County) and PBA Local 66, 2020-2024 — Schedule A salary guide, Step 1, 1/1/2024 column: 59,000. — open the source document
$59,000 is the guide's own Step 1 figure and no arithmetic has been applied to it. THE NAME TRAP IS CLEARED IN THE DOCUMENT ITSELF: this is Hamilton Township in MERCER County, confirmed three ways - the authorising resolution reads "TOWNSHIP OF HAMILTON COUNTY OF MERCER, NEW JERSEY", the PERC certification reads "Employer: Township of Hamilton County: Mercer", and the unit is PBA Local 66. Hamilton Township in ATLANTIC County is a different agency with a different local. THE GATE RUNS THE OPPOSITE WAY TO THE USUAL NEW JERSEY SHAPE, and that is what makes Step 1 the entry figure: there is no academy row beneath it, and the agreement instead sends the ALREADY-CERTIFIED hire UPWARD - "New Police Officers who have already completed basic training at the police academy will enter at Step 2." So Step 1 is the rate for an officer hired to attend the academy and Step 2, $64,000, is a lateral entry. A WARNING ABOUT THE PERC SUMMARY FORM, WHICH THIS FILING IS THE ONLY ONE TO CARRY COMPLETED: the form defines base salary to INCLUDE increment and longevity, and its Total Base Salary Cost of $13,491,471 across 133 unit employees is a UNIT AGGREGATE, not an entry rate. The guide's Step 1 base is the figure. STEPS 1 TO 11 ARE FROZEN FLAT ACROSS ALL FOUR CONTRACT YEARS - only the maximum step received increases - so $59,000 held from 2021 to 2024 unchanged. THE CONTRACT HAS EXPIRED AND THAT IS NAMED: the 1/1/2024 column is the last and the term ran to 31 December 2024.
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 Hamilton Township 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. Hamilton Township starts at $59,000, so $9,140 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Hamilton Township Police Division officer make?
Hamilton Township Police Division starts a new officer on $59,000 a year, about $28.37 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 NJ PERC-filed agreement, Township of Hamilton (Mercer County) and PBA Local 66, 2020-2024 — Schedule A salary guide, Step 1, 1/1/2024 column: 59,000..
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Jersey?
It ranks #7 of 27 agencies we have verified in New Jersey — 20 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #1,629 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,685 below, and against other municipal agencies $9,140 below.
Compare with another department
Put Hamilton Township Police Division 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 NJ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Hamilton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — Fish & Wildlife Conservation Police | State | — | $74,153 | +$15,153 | #711 |
| 2 | New Jersey State Police | State | 3,351 | $64,956 | +$5,956 | #1,268 |
| 3 | Galloway Township Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $64,236 | +$5,236 | #1,307 |
| 4 | Monroe Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,736 | +$4,736 | #1,334 |
| 5 | New Jersey State Parole Board | State | — | $63,268 | +$4,268 | #1,367 |
| 6 | North Plainfield Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $59,036 | +$36 | #1,624 |
| 8 | Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $58,000 | −$1,000 | #1,679 |
| 9 | Vineland Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $58,000 | −$1,000 | #1,681 |
| 10 | Cherry Hill Township Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $57,322 | −$1,678 | #1,741 |
| 11 | Toms River Township Police Department | Municipal | 145 | $56,792 | −$2,208 | #1,760 |
| 12 | South Brunswick Police Department | Municipal | — | $55,165 | −$3,835 | #1,840 |
| 13 | New Jersey Department of Corrections — Correctional Police | State | — | $55,081 | −$3,919 | #1,847 |
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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