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Modesto 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.
Modesto Police Department starts at $98,030 a year — about $47.13 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $31,346 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $29,890 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $88,539 somewhere at average prices — $9,491 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 159 against a national average of 100, where goods are 106. 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 isModesto Police Department reported 199 sworn officers and 138 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 0.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 221,064.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 Modesto says about itself
The Modesto Police Department is a leader in Intelligence-Led Policing. We maximize the use of technology, innovative ideas and crime analysis in the deployment of our resources.
What Modesto does
The Modesto Police Department serves the city of Modesto, California, the seat of Stanislaus County in the San Joaquin Valley. Its sworn officers are represented by the Modesto Police Officers Association under an agreement the City publishes in full, running from July 2023 to June 2027, which prices Police Officer Trainee and Police Officer as separate salary ranges and sets four dated increases across its term. Patrol shift rotations run March to August and September to February, and officers work a five-and-two, four-ten or four-eleven schedule.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. City of Modesto, Modesto Police Officers Association memorandum of understanding, Exhibit E — MPOA schedule of salary ranges, range 0309 (Police Officer), Step A: $47.13 hourly, $3,770.40 bi-weekly, $8,169.20 monthly, effective 30 June 2026. — open the source document
$8,169.20 a month is the City's own Step A figure for range 0309 and $98,030.40 is that rate times twelve, which is exact rather than an estimate. THE TRAINEE IS A SEPARATE RANGE AND THAT IS WHY THIS IS CLEAN: the agreement's own classification table reads "Police Officer Trainee 305 / Police Officer 309", and Exhibit E prices range 0305 Step A at $42.70 an hour, $7,401.34 a month, materially beneath the sworn class. The figure here is RANGE 309, STEP A. THE SOURCE CONTRADICTS ITSELF ON ONE DATE AND I AM NOT RESOLVING IT SILENTLY: the exhibit's title and the agreement's table of contents both say EFFECTIVE JUNE 30, 2026, while the table's own header line says "EFFECTIVE: July 30, 2026". The agreement's body text supports June - "4. Effective June 30, 2026, salary ranges shall be adjusted upward by four (4%) percent" - and that is the date this row and its chart use, with the July string recorded here rather than hidden. ONE MORE THING WORTH KNOWING BEFORE THE CHART IS READ: the ranges went from five steps to six effective 1 July 2025, and the new step was added at the TOP, so Step A moved only by the stated 3 per cent and the entry measure was never disturbed.
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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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.
How this level compares
Where Modesto 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. Modesto starts at $98,030, so $29,890 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Modesto Police Department officer make?
Modesto Police Department starts a new officer on $98,030 a year, about $47.13 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 Modesto, Modesto Police Officers Association memorandum of understanding, Exhibit E — MPOA schedule of salary ranges, range 0309 (Police Officer), Step A: $47.13 hourly, $3,770.40 bi-weekly, $8,169.20 monthly, effective 30 June 2026..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #133 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 145 pay less, 132 pay more in the state — and #151 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $31,346 above, and against other municipal agencies $29,890 above.
Compare with another department
Put Modesto 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 Modesto | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$65,589 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$51,413 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$49,912 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$45,973 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$45,066 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$42,994 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$41,709 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$40,934 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$40,230 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$34,363 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$34,233 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$34,006 | #12 |
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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