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Newark 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.
Newark Police Department starts at $70,000 a year — about $33.65 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,610 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,264 below the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isNewark Police Department reported 72 sworn officers and 20 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 30,486.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.
About Newark
The Newark Police Department continuously accepts applications for Police Officer and screens entry applicants through written examination and the City's hiring process. The department provides municipal law-enforcement services to Newark and supports sworn officers with academy training, continuing police training and department equipment
Where the figure comes from
Checked 16 August 2026. City of Newark, Delaware — Police Salary & Fringe Benefits — open the source document
Newark starts a police officer on $70,000, paid while attending the police academy and through the end of the first year of service, rising to $72,747 after two years and topping out above $119,000 without promotion. Annual step raises run 3 to 4 per cent. A lateral already certified starts somewhere in a $70,000 to $95,000 range depending on prior sworn service. Officers receive full salary during the academy, a take-home car and no residency restriction.
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 Newark 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. Newark starts at $70,000, so $1,287 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Newark Police Department officer make?
Newark Police Department starts a new officer on $70,000 a year, about $33.65 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 Newark, Delaware — Police Salary & Fringe Benefits.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Delaware?
It ranks #7 of 14 agencies we have verified in Delaware — 7 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #767 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,610 above, and against other municipal agencies $1,264 below.
Compare with another department
Put Newark 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 DE
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Newark | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware State Police | State | 783 | $91,265 | +$21,265 | #189 |
| 2 | New Castle City Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,338 | +$5,338 | #544 |
| 3 | University of Delaware Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 48 | $74,679 | +$4,679 | #570 |
| 4 | Middletown Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $74,550 | +$4,550 | #576 |
| 5 | New Castle County Police | County | 414 | $74,453 | +$4,453 | #582 |
| 6 | Dover Police Department | Municipal | 101 | $72,000 | +$2,000 | #668 |
| 8 | Selbyville Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $68,788 | −$1,212 | #824 |
| 9 | Seaford Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $68,474 | −$1,526 | #838 |
| 10 | Milford Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $67,971 | −$2,029 | #864 |
| 11 | Wilmington Police Department | Municipal | 279 | $67,600 | −$2,400 | #888 |
| 12 | Cheswold Police Department | Municipal | 4 | $57,500 | −$12,500 | #1,359 |
| 13 | Delaware Capitol Police | State | — | $53,807 | −$16,193 | #1,475 |
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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