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Milpitas 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.
Milpitas Police Department starts at $138,261 a year — about $66.47 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $69,871 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $66,996 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA run about 10% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $125,210 somewhere at average prices — $13,051 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 212 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. 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 isMilpitas Police Department reported 84 sworn officers and 30 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 79,749.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 Milpitas says about itself
The Milpitas Police Department is committed to the protection of lives and property by working with our community, and providing professional and responsive police services.
What Milpitas does
The Milpitas Police Department says it is committed to protecting lives and property by working with the community and providing professional and responsive police services. It identifies high work ethic, integrity, professionalism, moral character, efficient and impartial service, public trust, community participation, teamwork, creativity, and innovation as organizational values. The department also describes its community-oriented policing strategy as focused on trust, collaboration, open dialogue, proactive problem solving, crime prevention, public education, transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Milpitas Human Resources MPOA — open the source document
Their source is effective 12 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 Milpitas 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. Milpitas starts at $138,261, so $66,974 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Milpitas Police Department officer make?
Milpitas Police Department starts a new officer on $138,261 a year, about $66.47 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 Milpitas Human Resources MPOA.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #9 of 222 agencies we have verified in California — 213 pay less, 8 pay more in the state — and #9 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $69,871 above, and against other municipal agencies $66,996 above.
Compare with another department
Put Milpitas 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Milpitas | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$25,358 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$11,182 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$9,681 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$5,743 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$4,835 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$2,763 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$1,479 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$704 | #8 |
| 10 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | −$5,998 | #10 |
| 11 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | −$6,225 | #11 |
| 12 | Campbell Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $131,747 | −$6,514 | #12 |
| 13 | Foster City Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $131,165 | −$7,096 | #13 |
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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