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Northampton 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.
Northampton Police Department starts at $53,907 a year — about $25.92 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,778 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $14,233 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Massachusetts run about 6% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $50,973 somewhere at average prices — $2,934 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 152 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. 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 isNorthampton Police Department reported 53 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 31,862.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 Northampton says about itself
The Northampton Police Department (NPD) is a progressive and professional police agency. We pride ourselves on the exceptional level of service that we provide to our citizens and visitors of our community.
What Northampton does
The Northampton Police Department has served the city since 1884, when the first mayor of the newly chartered city appointed a chief and two night policemen. It is headed by a chief who reports to the mayor and is divided into two divisions, Operations and Administration, each under a captain. It was the sixth department in Massachusetts to gain accreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission, the first in western Massachusetts to run 911, the first in the state to replicate the DARE programme, and in 2016 the first in Massachusetts to join the White House Police Data Initiative. Officers can specialise as DART officers, crime scene technicians, field training officers, sUAS pilots, bike patrol, firearms or defensive tactics instructors, accreditation team members or drug recognition experts
Where the figure comes from
Checked 6 September 2026. Northampton Police Department official Salary and Benefits page — open the source document
The Department's own salary page, read 6 September 2026: the patrol officer contract sets the range at $51,310 to $69,929 for FY23, $52,592 to $71,677 for FY24 and $53,907 to $73,469 for FY25, the last year published, so the entry figure here is the FY25 bottom of range and a successor contract will supersede it. The Department states that a candidate who has completed the part-time academy may qualify for an MPTC waiver and is usually hired first, put through field training and sent to the full-time academy afterwards, so neither certification nor prior sworn service is required to start. The Educational Incentive Program pays $5,000 for an associate's, $9,000 for a bachelor's and $11,000 for a master's on top of base and is excluded, as are the twelve paid holidays
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 Northampton 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. Northampton starts at $53,907, so $14,233 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Northampton Police Department officer make?
Northampton Police Department starts a new officer on $53,907 a year, about $25.92 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 Northampton Police Department official Salary and Benefits page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Massachusetts?
It ranks #19 of 19 agencies we have verified in Massachusetts — 0 pay less, 18 pay more in the state — and #1,918 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,778 below, and against other municipal agencies $14,233 below.
Compare with another department
Put Northampton 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 MA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Northampton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $95,568 | +$41,661 | #178 |
| 2 | Nantucket Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $92,144 | +$38,237 | #225 |
| 3 | Massachusetts State Police | State | 2,565 | $80,213 | +$26,306 | #491 |
| 4 | Tufts University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 52 | $75,962 | +$22,055 | #632 |
| 5 | Barnstable Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $75,400 | +$21,493 | #655 |
| 6 | Boston Police Department | Municipal | 2,172 | $71,861 | +$17,954 | #822 |
| 7 | Plymouth Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $67,927 | +$14,020 | #1,062 |
| 8 | West Stockbridge Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,797 | +$12,890 | #1,133 |
| 9 | Haverhill Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $66,652 | +$12,745 | #1,146 |
| 10 | Rowley Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $66,397 | +$12,490 | #1,168 |
| 11 | Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs — Environmental Police | State | — | $65,447 | +$11,540 | #1,222 |
| 12 | Brockton Police Department | Municipal | 179 | $63,971 | +$10,064 | #1,321 |
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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