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Hoover 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.
Hoover Police Department starts at $62,920 a year — about $30.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,765 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $5,220 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Alabama run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,838 would somewhere at average prices — $7,918 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 62 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isHoover Police Department reported 178 sworn officers and 48 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 93,094.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 Hoover says about itself
Today the Hoover Police Department has grown from the tiny, one-man operation of 1967 to one of the largest and most advanced departments in the nation, bringing a large number of jobs to the Hoover community.
What Hoover does
The Hoover Police Department serves the City of Hoover, Alabama. It began as a one-officer department when the city incorporated in 1967 and is now CALEA-accredited.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 19 September 2026. Hoover Police Department recruiting page, minimum annual starting salary for a POST-certified officer — open the source document
As of 5 May 2025, per the page; POST-certified range $62,920.00 to $69,388.80 by prior experience, bottom of range used.
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 Hoover 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. Hoover starts at $62,920, so $5,220 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Hoover Police Department officer make?
Hoover Police Department starts a new officer on $62,920 a year, about $30.25 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 Hoover Police Department recruiting page, minimum annual starting salary for a POST-certified officer.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Alabama?
It ranks #1 of 35 agencies we have verified in Alabama — the highest in the state in the state — and #1,390 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,765 below, and against other municipal agencies $5,220 below.
Compare with another department
Put Hoover 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 AL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Hoover | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Madison Police Department | Municipal | 88 | $60,195 | −$2,725 | #1,550 |
| 3 | Birmingham Police Department | Municipal | 755 | $59,862 | −$3,058 | #1,588 |
| 4 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 131 | $58,798 | −$4,122 | #1,642 |
| 5 | Huntsville Police Department | Municipal | 432 | $58,614 | −$4,306 | #1,649 |
| 6 | Opelika Police Department | Municipal | 103 | $58,217 | −$4,703 | #1,663 |
| 7 | Shelby County Sheriff's Office | County | 147 | $57,408 | −$5,512 | #1,735 |
| 8 | Tuscaloosa Police Department | Municipal | 241 | $57,325 | −$5,595 | #1,740 |
| 9 | Alabama Highway Patrol | State | — | $56,726 | −$6,194 | #1,763 |
| 10 | Madison County Sheriff's Office | County | 184 | $55,390 | −$7,530 | #1,828 |
| 11 | Montgomery Police Department | Municipal | 259 | $55,168 | −$7,752 | #1,839 |
| 12 | Baldwin County Sheriff's Office | County | 174 | $53,768 | −$9,152 | #1,921 |
| 13 | Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office | County | 112 | $51,888 | −$11,032 | #1,997 |
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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