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Palm Beach Gardens 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.
Palm Beach Gardens Police Department starts at $75,000 a year — about $36.06 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,315 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $6,860 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL run about 14% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $65,700 somewhere at average prices — $9,300 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 156 against a national average of 100, where goods are 104. 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 isPalm Beach Gardens Police Department reported 127 sworn officers and 71 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 64,337.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 Palm Beach Gardens says about itself
The Palm Beach Gardens Police Officers and Members are committed to establishing close ties and responding to the needs of the Palm Beach Gardens community. Through a collective effort of community and enforcement programs, the department seeks to control crime through pro-active crime prevention and community oriented policing.
What Palm Beach Gardens does
Palm Beach Gardens Police Officers work assigned shifts performing patrol and traffic enforcement and responding to emergency and non-emergency calls as sworn municipal officers
Where the figure comes from
Checked 30 August 2026. Article 32 Salaries Section 1, Agreement between the City of Palm Beach Gardens and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association for Police Officers, Sergeants and Communications Operators, 1 October 2025 - 30 September 2028; ratified by Resolution 74, 2025, adopted 19 September 2025 — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 October 2025.
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.
Entry pay through 2027
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.
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How this level compares
Where Palm Beach Gardens 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. Palm Beach Gardens starts at $75,000, so $6,860 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Palm Beach Gardens Police Department officer make?
Palm Beach Gardens Police Department starts a new officer on $75,000 a year, about $36.06 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 Article 32 Salaries Section 1, Agreement between the City of Palm Beach Gardens and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association for Police Officers, Sergeants and Communications Operators, 1 October 2025 - 30 September 2028; ratified by Resolution 74, 2025, adopted 19 September 2025.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #28 of 303 agencies we have verified in Florida — 275 pay less, 27 pay more in the state — and #676 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,315 above, and against other municipal agencies $6,860 above.
Compare with another department
Put Palm Beach Gardens 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 FL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Palm | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $91,007 | +$16,007 | #244 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$6,723 | #433 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$6,000 | #459 |
| 4 | Hillsboro Beach Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,954 | +$5,954 | #461 |
| 5 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$5,912 | #464 |
| 6 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$5,000 | #496 |
| 7 | Indian Creek Village Public Safety Department | Municipal | 10 | $79,850 | +$4,850 | #500 |
| 8 | Sunrise Police Department | Municipal | 190 | $79,071 | +$4,071 | #520 |
| 9 | Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,720 | $78,828 | +$3,828 | #526 |
| 10 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$3,556 | #536 |
| 11 | Longboat Key Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $78,430 | +$3,430 | #543 |
| 12 | Manalapan Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $78,280 | +$3,280 | #549 |
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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