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Lawrence 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.
Lawrence Police Department starts at $62,462 a year — about $30.03 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,222 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $5,678 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Kansas run about 10% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $69,350 would somewhere at average prices — $6,888 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 71 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.
What Lawrence says about itself
If there is one point the residents of any community must know about their law enforcement officers, it is that the entire department exists to be of service to them one hundred percent of the time.
What Lawrence does
The Lawrence Police Department is the municipal force for the City of Lawrence, the seat of Douglas County and home of the University of Kansas. It sets out five guiding principles built around service to residents.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 26 September 2026. City of Lawrence, "City of Lawrence 2026 Pay Plan (Updated May 2026)", Lawrence Police Officer's Association table, grade 101: "101 30.03 31.61 33.27 ..." - Step 1 $30.03 an hour. — open the source document
Step 1 of the Police Officer grade on the City's 2026 pay plan, $30.03 an hour, converted at 2,080 hours ($62,462.40). The department's own recruiting site prints the same figure as starting pay - "$62,462", "APPROX: $30.03/HR" - and says new officers are paid "for your time spent in the Academy", so there is no lower recruit rate. Excluded: shift differential and later steps.
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 Lawrence 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. Lawrence starts at $62,462, so $5,678 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lawrence Police Department officer make?
Lawrence Police Department starts a new officer on $62,462 a year, about $30.03 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 Lawrence, "City of Lawrence 2026 Pay Plan (Updated May 2026)", Lawrence Police Officer's Association table, grade 101: "101 30.03 31.61 33.27 ..." - Step 1 $30.03 an hour..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Kansas?
It ranks #9 of 22 agencies we have verified in Kansas — 13 pay less, 8 pay more in the state — and #1,414 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,222 below, and against other municipal agencies $5,678 below.
Compare with another department
Put Lawrence 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 KS
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lawrence | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wichita Police Department | Municipal | 663 | $70,970 | +$8,507 | #879 |
| 2 | Kansas Highway Patrol | State | 467 | $68,182 | +$5,720 | #1,041 |
| 3 | Lenexa Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $66,013 | +$3,551 | #1,184 |
| 4 | Prairie Village Police Department | Municipal | 46 | $65,975 | +$3,513 | #1,186 |
| 5 | Topeka Police Department | Municipal | 273 | $65,374 | +$2,912 | #1,232 |
| 6 | Olathe Police Department | Municipal | 210 | $65,050 | +$2,588 | #1,253 |
| 7 | Shawnee Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $64,114 | +$1,652 | #1,311 |
| 8 | Leawood Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $63,036 | +$574 | #1,382 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 488 | $62,400 | −$62 | #1,423 |
| 11 | University of Kansas Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 28 | $60,180 | −$2,282 | #1,553 |
| 12 | Shawnee County Sheriff's Office | County | 117 | $60,029 | −$2,434 | #1,563 |
| 13 | Saline County Sheriff's Office | County | 41 | $57,866 | −$4,597 | #1,693 |
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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