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Hattiesburg 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.
Hattiesburg Police Department starts at $55,000 a year — about $26.44 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,685 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $13,140 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Hattiesburg, MS run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,762 would somewhere at average prices — $7,762 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 60 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isHattiesburg Police Department reported 92 sworn officers and 43 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 48,465.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 Hattiesburg says about itself
The mission of the Hattiesburg Police Department is to serve the public in the most effective, efficient and professional manner possible and to work cooperatively with the public to provide for a safe environment for all of our citizens.
What Hattiesburg does
Hattiesburg Police Department provides municipal law-enforcement service and trains recruits through its police academy.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Hattiesburg June 25, 2026 Police Academy recruitment announcement — open the source document
Their source is effective 25 June 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 Hattiesburg 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. Hattiesburg starts at $55,000, so $13,140 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Hattiesburg Police Department officer make?
Hattiesburg Police Department starts a new officer on $55,000 a year, about $26.44 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 Hattiesburg June 25, 2026 Police Academy recruitment announcement.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Mississippi?
It ranks #3 of 12 agencies we have verified in Mississippi — 9 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #1,853 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,685 below, and against other municipal agencies $13,140 below.
Compare with another department
Put Hattiesburg 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 MS
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Hattiesburg | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeSoto County Sheriff's Office | County | 185 | $65,564 | +$10,564 | #1,216 |
| 2 | Southaven Police Department | Municipal | 150 | $61,982 | +$6,982 | #1,451 |
| 4 | Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol | State | 397 | $54,000 | −$1,000 | #1,910 |
| 5 | Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics | State | — | $54,000 | −$1,000 | #1,911 |
| 6 | Oxford Police Department | Municipal | 106 | $52,531 | −$2,469 | #1,967 |
| 7 | Gulfport Police Department | Municipal | 134 | $51,241 | −$3,759 | #2,024 |
| 8 | Mississippi Department of Revenue - Alcoholic Beverage Control Bureau of Enforcement | State | — | $50,000 | −$5,000 | #2,077 |
| 9 | Biloxi Police Department | Municipal | 122 | $48,300 | −$6,700 | #2,136 |
| 10 | Mississippi Capitol Police | State | — | $46,700 | −$8,300 | #2,175 |
| 11 | Ocean Springs Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $45,474 | −$9,526 | #2,196 |
| 12 | Mississippi Department of Marine Resources - Marine Patrol | State | — | $45,000 | −$10,000 | #2,208 |
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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