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McDonough 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.
McDonough Police Department starts at $60,532 a year — about $29.10 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,153 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $7,608 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Georgia run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,862 would somewhere at average prices — $2,330 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 89 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.
What McDonough says about itself
The City of McDonough Police Services Department maintains responsibility for all law enforcement activities within the City limits by providing a dedicated force of diligent and effective personnel who work to protect the rights and safety of residents and visitors of this fair City.
What McDonough does
The McDonough Police Department is the municipal force for the City of McDonough, the seat of Henry County, Georgia. The City says it has 49 full-time certified and 5 non-certified employees, with four shifts of uniformed patrol officers working 6 am to 6 pm and 6 pm to 6 am, and it runs criminal, narcotics and vice investigations with five full-time investigators.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 23 September 2026. City of McDonough, MPD Recruitment: "Certified Annual Salary: $60,532.00", printed beneath "Non-certified Annual Salary: $49,800.00". — open the source document
$60,532.00 is printed by the City as an annual salary and needs no conversion. THE NON-CERTIFIED FIGURE IS NOT THE ENTRY RATE: $49,800.00 is what the City pays someone who has not yet passed the Georgia POST academy, and academy certification alone is what moves an officer onto $60,532.00. The page asks for no prior years of service, so this is the starting rate for a certified officer with none. No effective date is printed. Excluded: overtime, any shift differential, and benefits.
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 McDonough 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. McDonough starts at $60,532, so $7,608 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a McDonough Police Department officer make?
McDonough Police Department starts a new officer on $60,532 a year, about $29.10 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 McDonough, MPD Recruitment: "Certified Annual Salary: $60,532.00", printed beneath "Non-certified Annual Salary: $49,800.00"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #18 of 80 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 62 pay less, 17 pay more in the state — and #1,532 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,153 below, and against other municipal agencies $7,608 below.
Compare with another department
Put McDonough 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs McDonough | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chamblee Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $73,733 | +$13,201 | #729 |
| 2 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$11,154 | #836 |
| 3 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$4,445 | #1,265 |
| 4 | Duluth Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $64,755 | +$4,223 | #1,279 |
| 5 | Garden City Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $64,072 | +$3,540 | #1,314 |
| 6 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | +$3,152 | #1,336 |
| 7 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | +$2,908 | #1,354 |
| 8 | Hall County Sheriff's Office | County | 283 | $63,365 | +$2,833 | #1,359 |
| 9 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | +$1,930 | #1,413 |
| 10 | Dunwoody Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $62,301 | +$1,769 | #1,428 |
| 11 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | +$1,457 | #1,450 |
| 12 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | +$568 | #1,495 |
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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