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Kernersville 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.
Kernersville Police Department starts at $56,264 a year — about $27.05 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,421 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $11,876 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in North Carolina run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $59,648 would somewhere at average prices — $3,384 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 81 against a national average of 100, where goods are 97. 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 isKernersville Police Department reported 69 sworn officers and 20 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 29,334.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 Kernersville says about itself
The mission of the Kernersville Police Department is to ensure police services are provided for, and with, the community in a legal, ethical and professional manner.
What Kernersville does
The Kernersville Police Department serves the Town of Kernersville in Forsyth County, North Carolina.
Kernersville’s rotation, in BlueShifts
“The standard patrol schedule is in 12 hour shifts as follows: two days on, two days off, and three days on. The on and off days for the following week then switch to two days off, two days on, and three days off.” The department also names a permanent day shift of approximately 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. and a permanent night shift of approximately 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
Seven twelve-hour shifts a fortnight, and the weekend you get is the long one - three days, every other time round. BlueShifts draws the fourteen-day cycle once and then keeps printing it forward, which is the only way to answer “am I free that Saturday” without counting on your fingers.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. Town of Kernersville, Kernersville Police Department recruitment, Compensation and Benefits: Police Officer grade 22 — open the source document
No date published, read 20 September 2026: officers holding BLET “start at a rate of $56,264 (Grade 22) with consideration given to prior experience and education”. The $51,033 grade 20 rate is paid while in the academy and is not the figure; a lateral with two years' service enters as Police Officer II (grade 23) at $59,076.
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 Kernersville 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. Kernersville starts at $56,264, so $11,876 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Kernersville Police Department officer make?
Kernersville Police Department starts a new officer on $56,264 a year, about $27.05 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 Town of Kernersville, Kernersville Police Department recruitment, Compensation and Benefits: Police Officer grade 22.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Carolina?
It ranks #21 of 53 agencies we have verified in North Carolina — 32 pay less, 20 pay more in the state — and #1,785 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,421 below, and against other municipal agencies $11,876 below.
What shifts do Kernersville Police Department officers work?
“The standard patrol schedule is in 12 hour shifts as follows: two days on, two days off, and three days on. The on and off days for the following week then switch to two days off, two days on, and three days off.” The department also names a permanent day shift of approximately 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. and a permanent night shift of approximately 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Kernersville 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 NC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Kernersville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knightdale Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $67,363 | +$11,099 | #1,104 |
| 2 | Cary Police Department | Municipal | 194 | $65,104 | +$8,840 | #1,247 |
| 3 | Wake Forest Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $65,093 | +$8,829 | #1,248 |
| 4 | Appalachian State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 36 | $64,084 | +$7,820 | #1,312 |
| 5 | North Carolina State Highway Patrol | State | — | $63,250 | +$6,986 | #1,368 |
| 6 | Huntersville Police Department | Municipal | 92 | $62,647 | +$6,383 | #1,400 |
| 7 | Apex Police Department | Municipal | 104 | $62,524 | +$6,260 | #1,408 |
| 8 | Fuquay-Varina Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $62,291 | +$6,027 | #1,430 |
| 9 | Johnston County Sheriff's Office | County | 124 | $62,213 | +$5,949 | #1,436 |
| 10 | Chapel Hill Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $61,451 | +$5,187 | #1,477 |
| 11 | Raleigh Police Department | Municipal | 713 | $61,417 | +$5,153 | #1,478 |
| 12 | Duke University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 57 | $60,195 | +$3,931 | #1,551 |
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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