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Murfreesboro 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.
Murfreesboro Police Department starts at $67,922 a year — about $32.65 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,237 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $218 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,504 would somewhere at average prices — $2,582 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 72 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isMurfreesboro Police Department reported 313 sworn officers and 76 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 172,248.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 Murfreesboro says about itself
Murfreesboro Police Department is committed to the protection of life and the prevention of crime and disorder through community-oriented policing. This approach emphasizes partnerships and innovative solutions to address crime and other safety issues in our community.
What Murfreesboro does
Murfreesboro Police Officers protect citizens and property by preventing, reporting, investigating and analyzing crime within City limits. Officers patrol assigned zones, respond to calls for service, investigate criminal activity and enforce state and federal laws and City ordinances
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Murfreesboro official 2026 Police Office — open the source document
Opened 2 March 2026; official salary $67,921.88 annually. This is specifically the non-certified entry route. Incentives, overtime and later experience-based compensation 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.
How this level compares
Where Murfreesboro 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. Murfreesboro starts at $67,922, so $218 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Murfreesboro Police Department officer make?
Murfreesboro Police Department starts a new officer on $67,922 a year, about $32.65 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 Murfreesboro official 2026 Police Office.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Tennessee?
It ranks #3 of 26 agencies we have verified in Tennessee — 23 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #1,063 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,237 above, and against other municipal agencies $218 below.
Compare with another department
Put Murfreesboro 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 TN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Murfreesboro | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brentwood Police Department | Municipal | 67 | $75,804 | +$7,882 | #640 |
| 2 | Metropolitan Nashville Police Department | Municipal | 1,546 | $70,904 | +$2,982 | #888 |
| 4 | Tennessee Bureau of Investigation | State | 484 | $67,764 | −$158 | #1,070 |
| 5 | Germantown Police Department | Municipal | 113 | $66,773 | −$1,149 | #1,135 |
| 6 | Smyrna Police Department | Municipal | 106 | $66,305 | −$1,617 | #1,171 |
| 7 | Tennessee Highway Patrol | State | — | $65,804 | −$2,118 | #1,201 |
| 8 | Hendersonville Police Department | Municipal | 134 | $65,654 | −$2,268 | #1,211 |
| 9 | Franklin Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $65,000 | −$2,922 | #1,256 |
| 10 | Chattanooga Police Department | Municipal | 397 | $60,460 | −$7,462 | #1,538 |
| 11 | Pigeon Forge Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $60,014 | −$7,908 | #1,565 |
| 12 | Collierville Police Department | Municipal | 115 | $60,000 | −$7,922 | #1,584 |
| 13 | Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency — Law Enforcement Division | State | — | $59,700 | −$8,222 | #1,595 |
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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