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Newark Police Division 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 Division starts at $53,688 a year — about $25.81 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,997 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $14,452 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New Jersey run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $49,343 somewhere at average prices — $4,345 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 134 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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 isNewark Police Division reported 1,119 sworn officers and 307 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 3.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 318,638.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 Newark says about itself
The Department of Public Safety's Police Division exists to serve the diverse population within our jurisdiction with respect, fairness and sensitivity. We are committed to the protection of life and property; the prevention of crime and the safeguarding of Constitutional guarantees. Empowered by the community, we are committed to enhancing the quality of life and foster a sense of security to enable citizens to live, work, be educated and prosper in the city of Newark. We nurture the public's trust by holding ourselves to the highest standards of performance and integrity.
What Newark does
The Newark Police Division is the municipal police force for New Jersey's largest city and sits inside the City of Newark Department of Public Safety, which also holds the Fire Division and the Office of Emergency Management. It polices the city from seven numbered precincts plus a Metro/9th precinct and substation, and its divisions include Criminal Investigations and Community Advocacy, Major Crimes, Special Victims, Emergency Services, Alcohol Beverage Control, Animal Cruelty Enforcement, a Taxi Unit and a ComStat unit. The Division operates under a federal consent decree and publishes its policies, body-worn camera rules, transparency data and community engagement reports under that heading, and it runs its own Newark Police Academy.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 27 August 2026. Academy graduation salary, Newark Department of Public Safety, Become a Newark Police Officer. — open the source document
ACADEMY GRADUATION SALARY $53,687.86. The Division publishes the whole early ladder on the same page: $41,591.99 while in the police academy, $53,687.86 on graduation, $63,902.12 in the first year, and a top salary of $108,444.43. The post-academy figure is the one recorded here. Newark runs no civil service test for this route and the Mayor's office offers a need-based academy stipend. APPLICANTS MUST BE NEWARK RESIDENTS and aged 18 to 34, with a high school diploma or equivalent and a valid driver's license.
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 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 | $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. Newark starts at $53,688, so $14,452 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Newark Police Division officer make?
Newark Police Division starts a new officer on $53,688 a year, about $25.81 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 Academy graduation salary, Newark Department of Public Safety, Become a Newark Police Officer..
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Jersey?
It ranks #16 of 27 agencies we have verified in New Jersey — 11 pay less, 15 pay more in the state — and #1,928 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,997 below, and against other municipal agencies $14,452 below.
Compare with another department
Put Newark Police Division 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 NJ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Newark | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — Fish & Wildlife Conservation Police | State | — | $74,153 | +$20,465 | #711 |
| 2 | New Jersey State Police | State | 3,351 | $64,956 | +$11,268 | #1,268 |
| 3 | Galloway Township Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $64,236 | +$10,548 | #1,307 |
| 4 | Monroe Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,736 | +$10,048 | #1,334 |
| 5 | New Jersey State Parole Board | State | — | $63,268 | +$9,580 | #1,367 |
| 6 | North Plainfield Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $59,036 | +$5,348 | #1,624 |
| 7 | Hamilton Township Police Division | Municipal | — | $59,000 | +$5,312 | #1,629 |
| 8 | Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $58,000 | +$4,312 | #1,679 |
| 9 | Vineland Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $58,000 | +$4,312 | #1,681 |
| 10 | Cherry Hill Township Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $57,322 | +$3,634 | #1,741 |
| 11 | Toms River Township Police Department | Municipal | 145 | $56,792 | +$3,104 | #1,760 |
| 12 | South Brunswick Police Department | Municipal | — | $55,165 | +$1,477 | #1,840 |
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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