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Mason City 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.
Mason City Police Department starts at $71,448 a year — about $34.35 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,058 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $184 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Iowa run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $81,411 would somewhere at average prices — $9,963 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 65 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.
How big the department isMason City Police Department reported 40 sworn officers and 8 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 26,866.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 Mason City says about itself
The mission of the Mason City Police Department is to provide professional public service through partnerships with the community to improve the quality of life and maintain the public's trust.
What Mason City does
Mason City Police Officers provide municipal law-enforcement service to a community of about 27,000 residents. Entry candidates complete Iowa POST and physical testing while officers perform patrol, enforcement, investigations, emergency response and community public-safety duties
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Mason City official 2026 — open the source document
Opened 15 April 2026; official range begins $34.35/hour = $71,448 annually, and the City expressly identifies approximately $71,450 as the starting salary for non-certified officers. Certified-officer bonus, relocation incentive and other add-ons are excluded
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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How this level compares
Where Mason City 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. Mason City starts at $71,448, so $161 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Mason City Police Department officer make?
Mason City Police Department starts a new officer on $71,448 a year, about $34.35 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 Mason City official 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #9 of 28 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 19 pay less, 8 pay more in the state — and #698 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,058 above, and against other municipal agencies $184 above.
Compare with another department
Put Mason City 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 IA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Mason | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$14,102 | #281 |
| 2 | Des Moines Police Department | Municipal | 367 | $84,635 | +$13,187 | #297 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | +$5,262 | #486 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | +$5,200 | #491 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | +$4,580 | #516 |
| 6 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | +$2,496 | #597 |
| 7 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | +$1,768 | #616 |
| 8 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | +$374 | #678 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | −$577 | #732 |
| 11 | Iowa Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Law Enforcement | State | — | $70,574 | −$874 | #742 |
| 12 | Davenport Police Department | Municipal | 143 | $70,322 | −$1,126 | #752 |
| 13 | Clinton County Sheriff's Office | County | 30 | $70,200 | −$1,248 | #759 |
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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