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Hartford 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.
Hartford Police Department starts at $67,464 a year — about $32.43 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $926 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $3,800 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $65,661 somewhere at average prices — $1,803 less than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 145, 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 isHartford Police Department reported 373 sworn officers and 29 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 3.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 122,548.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 Hartford says about itself
Works to keep Hartford residents safe by responding to and investigating crimes, reducing crime, and by forging strong relationships between police officers of all ranks and the communities they serve.
What Hartford does
Hartford Police Officers protect life and property, prevent crime and apprehend suspects. They perform public-service duties, preserve the peace and work with the community on rotating shifts.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. employer-controlled NEOGOV Police Officer posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 27 March 2026.
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 Hartford 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. Hartford starts at $67,464, so $3,823 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Hartford Police Department officer make?
Hartford Police Department starts a new officer on $67,464 a year, about $32.43 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 employer-controlled NEOGOV Police Officer posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Connecticut?
It ranks #10 of 11 agencies we have verified in Connecticut — 1 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #895 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $926 below, and against other municipal agencies $3,800 below.
Compare with another department
Put Hartford 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 CT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Hartford | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Windsor Police Department | Municipal | 41 | $87,483 | +$20,019 | #256 |
| 2 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 184 | $82,116 | +$14,652 | #346 |
| 3 | Milford Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $81,237 | +$13,773 | #371 |
| 4 | Greenwich Police Department | Municipal | 142 | $78,704 | +$11,240 | #433 |
| 5 | Connecticut State Police | State | 955 | $75,367 | +$7,903 | #543 |
| 6 | Stamford Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $72,881 | +$5,417 | #630 |
| 7 | Wallingford Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $71,448 | +$3,984 | #697 |
| 8 | Danbury Police Department | Municipal | 156 | $68,499 | +$1,035 | #835 |
| 9 | East Hartford Police Department | Municipal | 114 | $67,696 | +$232 | #878 |
| 11 | Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection — Environmental Conservation Police | State | — | $53,684 | −$13,780 | #1,481 |
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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