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Jonesboro 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.
Jonesboro Police Department starts at $51,501 a year — about $24.76 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $15,184 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $16,639 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Arkansas run about 13% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $59,239 would somewhere at average prices — $7,738 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 58 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isJonesboro Police Department reported 163 sworn officers and 19 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 83,296.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 Jonesboro says about itself
The Jonesboro Police Department has four divisions, each led by a Captain, to ensure the most efficient service possible.
What Jonesboro does
The Jonesboro Police Department is the municipal police agency for Jonesboro, the seat of Craighead County, and is organised into four divisions — Administration, Patrol, Criminal Investigations and Special Services — each led by a captain. Patrol officers work eleven-hour shifts across six geographical areas of responsibility, with the division split into four squads that overlap during peak hours; each shift runs 20 to 25 officers under a lieutenant and three sergeants. The department holds national accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and runs a K-9 unit, traffic and motorcycle units, a street crimes unit, a high-tech crimes unit affiliated to the Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, SWAT, a drone programme and school resource officers.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 7 September 2026. Jonesboro Police Department official recruiting page — Join JPD — open the source document
Department's own Join JPD page verified 7 September 2026; states starting pay is currently $51,500.80 with yearly raises. The page's minimum requirements are age 21, US citizenship, a high school diploma or GED, no felony convictions and a valid driver's license — no prior certification and no prior service, and the department states new recruits complete at least 33 weeks of training before permanent assignment to a shift as a certified officer. Arkansas certification runs through the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training (CLEST), which the department links from the same page
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 Jonesboro 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. Jonesboro starts at $51,501, so $16,639 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Jonesboro Police Department officer make?
Jonesboro Police Department starts a new officer on $51,501 a year, about $24.76 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 Jonesboro Police Department official recruiting page — Join JPD.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arkansas?
It ranks #8 of 17 agencies we have verified in Arkansas — 9 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #2,013 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $15,184 below, and against other municipal agencies $16,639 below.
Compare with another department
Put Jonesboro 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 AR
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Jonesboro | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas State Police | State | — | $67,675 | +$16,174 | #1,080 |
| 2 | Rogers Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $61,363 | +$9,862 | #1,481 |
| 3 | Little Rock Police Department | Municipal | 535 | $57,928 | +$6,427 | #1,686 |
| 4 | Fayetteville Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,699 | +$6,198 | #1,713 |
| 5 | Bentonville Police Department | Municipal | 99 | $55,950 | +$4,449 | #1,797 |
| 6 | North Little Rock Police Department | Municipal | 175 | $55,068 | +$3,567 | #1,849 |
| 7 | Farmington Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $54,251 | +$2,750 | #1,898 |
| 9 | Lowell Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $51,491 | −$10 | #2,014 |
| 10 | Benton Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $51,000 | −$501 | #2,032 |
| 11 | Conway Police Department | Municipal | 127 | $50,924 | −$577 | #2,037 |
| 12 | Pulaski County Sheriff's Office | County | 141 | $50,211 | −$1,290 | #2,068 |
| 13 | Fort Smith Police Department | Municipal | 155 | $50,003 | −$1,498 | #2,073 |
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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