Home › Police pay › Colorado › Loveland Police Department
Loveland 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.
Loveland Police Department starts at $93,696 a year — about $45.05 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $27,011 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $25,556 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Colorado run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $90,921 somewhere at average prices — $2,775 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 127 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. 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 isLoveland Police Department reported 116 sworn officers and 62 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 82,330.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 Loveland says about itself
The population of Loveland is approximately 80,000. Loveland PD employs 119 sworn officers and nearly 70 professional staff.
What Loveland does
The Loveland Police Department serves the city of Loveland, Colorado, in Larimer County at the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon, with 119 sworn officers and nearly 70 professional staff for a population of about 80,000. The City prices its police classes on a pay plan of their own, separate from the citywide one, with a single-step Police Officer/Recruit rate beneath a four-step Police Officer ladder whose steps are crossed by months of service rather than by rank or assignment. Officers are issued a take-home car and contribute 10 per cent of base salary to a money purchase plan against a City contribution of up to 15 per cent.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. City of Loveland, 2026 Police Department Pay Plan, dated 8 April 2026 — Annual Rates, "PD1 Police Officer $93,695.75" at Step 1, printed beside the hourly rate "PD1 Police Officer $45.0461". — open the source document
Their source is effective 8 April 2026.
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.
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.
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 Loveland 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. Loveland starts at $93,696, so $25,556 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Loveland Police Department officer make?
Loveland Police Department starts a new officer on $93,696 a year, about $45.05 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 City of Loveland, 2026 Police Department Pay Plan, dated 8 April 2026 — Annual Rates, "PD1 Police Officer $93,695.75" at Step 1, printed beside the hourly rate "PD1 Police Officer $45.0461"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Colorado?
It ranks #2 of 46 agencies we have verified in Colorado — 44 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #199 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $27,011 above, and against other municipal agencies $25,556 above.
Compare with another department
Put Loveland 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 CO
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Loveland | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fort Collins Police Services | Municipal | 241 | $103,544 | +$9,848 | #93 |
| 3 | Colorado State Patrol | State | 706 | $91,620 | −$2,076 | #233 |
| 4 | Arvada Police Department | Municipal | 159 | $90,555 | −$3,141 | #258 |
| 5 | Parker Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $89,898 | −$3,798 | #271 |
| 6 | Longmont Police Department | Municipal | 150 | $87,312 | −$6,384 | #317 |
| 7 | Johnstown Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $86,944 | −$6,752 | #324 |
| 8 | Broomfield Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $86,029 | −$7,667 | #337 |
| 9 | Castle Rock Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $85,488 | −$8,208 | #346 |
| 10 | Golden Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $85,321 | −$8,375 | #350 |
| 11 | Lakewood Police Department | Municipal | 274 | $85,093 | −$8,603 | #353 |
| 12 | Breckenridge Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $83,990 | −$9,705 | #375 |
| 13 | Littleton Police Department | Municipal | 86 | $83,280 | −$10,416 | #397 |
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
