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Manchester 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.
Manchester Police Department starts at $68,016 a year — about $32.70 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $374 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $3,248 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Manchester-Nashua, NH run about 6% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $64,374 somewhere at average prices — $3,642 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 134 against a national average of 100, where goods are 98. 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 isManchester Police Department reported 250 sworn officers and 62 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 116,606.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.
About Manchester
The Manchester Police Department is the municipal police agency for New Hampshire's largest city. Its official recruiting materials emphasize community policing and strong relationships with Manchester residents. The department includes Patrol/Uniform, Investigative, Administrative and Training functions and recruits non-certified applicants through recurring police examinations for service as Police Officers
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Manchester official FY27 MPPA wage scale a — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 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.
How this level compares
Where Manchester 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Manchester starts at $68,016, so $3,271 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Manchester Police Department officer make?
Manchester Police Department starts a new officer on $68,016 a year, about $32.70 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 Manchester official FY27 MPPA wage scale a.
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Hampshire?
It ranks #1 of 9 agencies we have verified in New Hampshire — the highest in the state in the state — and #860 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $374 below, and against other municipal agencies $3,248 below.
Compare with another department
Put Manchester 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 NH
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Manchester | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Concord Police Department | Municipal | 79 | $67,995 | −$21 | #862 |
| 3 | Greenland Police Department | Municipal | 8 | $67,700 | −$316 | #877 |
| 4 | New Hampshire State Police | State | 350 | $66,872 | −$1,144 | #924 |
| 5 | Rochester Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $63,960 | −$4,056 | #1,061 |
| 6 | Chesterfield Police Department | Municipal | 4 | $61,776 | −$6,240 | #1,164 |
| 7 | Merrimack County Sheriff's Office | County | 16 | $57,595 | −$10,421 | #1,357 |
| 8 | Barrington Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $56,992 | −$11,024 | #1,368 |
| 9 | Dover Police Department | Municipal | 49 | $56,888 | −$11,128 | #1,370 |
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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