Home › Police pay › Arkansas › Little Rock Police Department
Little Rock 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.
Little Rock Police Department starts at $57,928 a year — about $27.85 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,757 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,212 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $64,823 would somewhere at average prices — $6,895 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 68 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isLittle Rock Police Department reported 535 sworn officers and 107 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.6 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 205,320.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 Little Rock says about itself
The Little Rock Police Department is committed to protecting life and property through Teamwork with the community while embracing mutual Respect and Understanding. Our mission is to provide professional Service that is unbiased, consistent and Transparent.
What Little Rock does
Little Rock Police Department provides professional law-enforcement services focused on protecting life and property, reducing crime, enforcing laws and maintaining public safety. Official City materials emphasize community policing, integrity, accountability, professional service and partnerships with residents to address crime and quality-of-life concerns
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Little Rock official 2026 P — open the source document
Opened 1 January 2026; official contracted Police Officer pay table lists Step 1 NEW HIRE at $27.85/hour = $57,928 annually. The posting states academy-graduation education incentive and $10,000 graduation incentive separately, so those add-ons are excluded; no separate academy-graduation base step is created
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Little Rock 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. Little Rock starts at $57,928, so $10,212 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Little Rock Police Department officer make?
Little Rock Police Department starts a new officer on $57,928 a year, about $27.85 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 Little Rock official 2026 P.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arkansas?
It ranks #3 of 17 agencies we have verified in Arkansas — 14 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #1,686 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,757 below, and against other municipal agencies $10,212 below.
Compare with another department
Put Little Rock 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 Little | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas State Police | State | — | $67,675 | +$9,747 | #1,080 |
| 2 | Rogers Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $61,363 | +$3,435 | #1,481 |
| 4 | Fayetteville Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,699 | −$229 | #1,713 |
| 5 | Bentonville Police Department | Municipal | 99 | $55,950 | −$1,978 | #1,797 |
| 6 | North Little Rock Police Department | Municipal | 175 | $55,068 | −$2,860 | #1,849 |
| 7 | Farmington Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $54,251 | −$3,677 | #1,898 |
| 8 | Jonesboro Police Department | Municipal | 163 | $51,501 | −$6,427 | #2,013 |
| 9 | Lowell Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $51,491 | −$6,437 | #2,014 |
| 10 | Benton Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $51,000 | −$6,928 | #2,032 |
| 11 | Conway Police Department | Municipal | 127 | $50,924 | −$7,004 | #2,037 |
| 12 | Pulaski County Sheriff's Office | County | 141 | $50,211 | −$7,717 | #2,068 |
| 13 | Fort Smith Police Department | Municipal | 155 | $50,003 | −$7,925 | #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.
Scan to install
