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Lakewood Township 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.
Lakewood Township Police Department starts at $51,277 a year — about $24.65 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $15,408 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $16,863 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New Jersey run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $47,128 somewhere at average prices — $4,150 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 134 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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 isLakewood Township Police Department reported 189 sworn officers and 58 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 143,902.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 Lakewood Township says about itself
The Lakewood Police Department will provide the highest level of service through the enforcement of laws and the protection of life, property and the constitutional rights of all.
What Lakewood Township does
The Lakewood Township Police Department serves Lakewood Township, New Jersey, in Ocean County. Its officers are represented by PBA Local 71 under an agreement running from 2023 to the end of 2026 which deleted the academy half-step and discontinued longevity from its first day, and which puts officers on a four-day ten-hour week with holidays and personal days counted in ten-hour blocks.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. NJ PERC-filed agreement, Township of Lakewood and PBA Local 71, 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2026 — Schedule A salary guide, Step 1, 2026 column: 51,277.23. — open the source document
$51,277.23 is the guide's own Step 1 figure for 2026 and no arithmetic has been applied to it. THE 2026 COLUMN IS THE CURRENT ONE AND THIS IS A LIVE CONTRACT - the agreement runs to 31 December 2026, which makes Lakewood the rare New Jersey row whose published guide has not expired. THE ACADEMY HALF-STEP WAS DELETED AND THE AGREEMENT SAYS SO, WHICH IS WHY STEP 1 IS THE ENTRY RATE WITH NOTHING BENEATH IT: "Effective 1/1/2023 all longevity will be discontinued and the academy 1/2 step is removed and $2,500 is to be added in Step 10 for calculation purposes in this contract." A prior contract did carry an academy half-step; it is gone, so there is no training rate to reject and no academy gate to read. Excluded from the figure: longevity, which the same clause discontinues, and every non-salary item. THE FIGURE IS DATED BY THE GUIDE ITSELF.
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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Entry pay, 2023–2026
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
How this level compares
Where Lakewood Township 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. Lakewood Township starts at $51,277, so $16,863 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lakewood Township Police Department officer make?
Lakewood Township Police Department starts a new officer on $51,277 a year, about $24.65 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 NJ PERC-filed agreement, Township of Lakewood and PBA Local 71, 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2026 — Schedule A salary guide, Step 1, 2026 column: 51,277.23..
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Jersey?
It ranks #18 of 27 agencies we have verified in New Jersey — 9 pay less, 17 pay more in the state — and #2,021 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $15,408 below, and against other municipal agencies $16,863 below.
Compare with another department
Put Lakewood Township 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 NJ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lakewood | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — Fish & Wildlife Conservation Police | State | — | $74,153 | +$22,876 | #711 |
| 2 | New Jersey State Police | State | 3,351 | $64,956 | +$13,679 | #1,268 |
| 3 | Galloway Township Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $64,236 | +$12,959 | #1,307 |
| 4 | Monroe Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,736 | +$12,459 | #1,334 |
| 5 | New Jersey State Parole Board | State | — | $63,268 | +$11,991 | #1,367 |
| 6 | North Plainfield Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $59,036 | +$7,759 | #1,624 |
| 7 | Hamilton Township Police Division | Municipal | — | $59,000 | +$7,723 | #1,629 |
| 8 | Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $58,000 | +$6,723 | #1,679 |
| 9 | Vineland Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $58,000 | +$6,723 | #1,681 |
| 10 | Cherry Hill Township Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $57,322 | +$6,045 | #1,741 |
| 11 | Toms River Township Police Department | Municipal | 145 | $56,792 | +$5,515 | #1,760 |
| 12 | South Brunswick Police Department | Municipal | — | $55,165 | +$3,888 | #1,840 |
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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