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Palmer 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.
Palmer Police Department starts at $60,840 a year — about $29.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,845 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $7,300 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Alaska run about 2% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $59,438 somewhere at average prices — $1,402 less than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 119, where goods are 106. 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 isPalmer Police Department reported 17 sworn officers and 9 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 6,810.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 Palmer says about itself
The Palmer Police Department is an organization comprised of people of integrity, committed to providing quality police service to its community in an honest, fair, professional and courteous manner. The focus of the department is the forging of a partnership with the community based on mutual trust, confidence, commitment and open communications to maintain and improve the quality of life and promote the safety and welfare of our citizens.
What Palmer does
Palmer Police Department serves a city in Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley, established in 1951, from South Valley Way. The department describes itself as comprised of people of integrity committed to providing quality police service honestly, fairly, professionally and courteously, and sets its focus on forging a partnership with the community built on mutual trust, confidence, commitment and open communication. It pledges to grow and develop with the community and to keep evaluating and modifying its work as local needs change. Alongside its sworn officers the department runs a reserve officer programme, held to the same standards of performance and departmental policy as sworn officers, which provides additional staffing in a major disaster or other unforeseen conditions and covers special events and special assignments.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Palmer Pay Plan - January 1, 2026 — open the source document
Current City pay plan lists Police Officer I at Level 8, Step 1, $29.25/hour / $60,840 annually. The Step 1 annual figure is used. Class: Police Officer I. Trainee class: No separate lower recruit/cadet/trainee classification appears in the current City pay plan for Police Officer I. Current City pay plan classifies Police Officer I as a City public-safety position.
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 Palmer 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. Palmer starts at $60,840, so $7,300 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Palmer Police Department officer make?
Palmer Police Department starts a new officer on $60,840 a year, about $29.25 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 Palmer Pay Plan - January 1, 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Alaska?
It ranks #15 of 15 agencies we have verified in Alaska — 0 pay less, 14 pay more in the state — and #1,515 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,845 below, and against other municipal agencies $7,300 below.
Compare with another department
Put Palmer 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 AK
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Palmer | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska State Troopers | State | 363 | $97,365 | +$36,525 | #158 |
| 2 | North Slope Borough Police Department | County | 47 | $94,120 | +$33,280 | #194 |
| 3 | Fairbanks International Airport Police and Fire Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $87,381 | +$26,541 | #315 |
| 4 | Anchorage Police Department | Municipal | 369 | $85,405 | +$24,565 | #347 |
| 5 | Juneau Police Department | Municipal | 41 | $84,490 | +$23,650 | #361 |
| 6 | Wasilla Police Department | Municipal | 29 | $80,558 | +$19,718 | #474 |
| 7 | Ketchikan Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $79,726 | +$18,886 | #502 |
| 8 | Kenai Police Department | Municipal | 17 | $79,414 | +$18,574 | #512 |
| 9 | Fairbanks Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $79,040 | +$18,200 | #521 |
| 10 | Nome Police Department | Municipal | 11 | $77,958 | +$17,118 | #557 |
| 11 | Petersburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $71,406 | +$10,566 | #850 |
| 12 | Bristol Bay Borough Police Department | County | 4 | $68,390 | +$7,550 | #1,027 |
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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