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Palmetto 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.
Palmetto Police Department starts at $55,000 a year — about $26.44 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,685 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $13,140 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Georgia run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $57,117 would somewhere at average prices — $2,117 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 89 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 isPalmetto Police Department reported 19 sworn officers and 2 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 3.6 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 5,251.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 Palmetto says about itself
The mission of the Palmetto Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Palmetto by working cooperatively with the public, enforcing ordinances and laws, preserving the peace, preventing crime and providing a safe environment within our community.
What Palmetto does
The Palmetto Police Department is the municipal force for the City of Palmetto, Georgia, on the south-west edge of metro Atlanta. The City says the department consists of twenty sworn officers, including the Chief, detectives and patrol officers, working from 401 Carlton Road.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 23 September 2026. City of Palmetto, Certified Police Officer job opening: "Base Annual Salary: $ 55,000.00", with experience incentives of +2.5% to +10% and education incentives of +3.75% to +10% beneath it, "Maximum Incentive 10%". — open the source document
$55,000.00 is printed by the City as a BASE annual salary and needs no conversion. The posting asks applicants to "meet P.O.S.T. requirements for Peace Officer Certification and/or academy admittance", so academy certification is the only bar and no prior service is required. The experience steps start at 2-4 years and the degree steps are add-ons, so neither changes the entry figure. No effective date is printed; applications are open until filled. THIS IS PALMETTO, GEORGIA (401 Carlton Road, Palmetto, GA 30268), not Palmetto, Florida, which is already on the roster under its own slug. Excluded: experience and education incentives, overtime and benefits.
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 Palmetto 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. Palmetto starts at $55,000, so $13,140 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Palmetto Police Department officer make?
Palmetto Police Department starts a new officer on $55,000 a year, about $26.44 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 Palmetto, Certified Police Officer job opening: "Base Annual Salary: $ 55,000.00", with experience incentives of +2.5% to +10% and education incentives of +3.75% to +10% beneath it, "Maximum Incentive 10%"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #45 of 80 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 35 pay less, 44 pay more in the state — and #1,861 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,685 below, and against other municipal agencies $13,140 below.
Compare with another department
Put Palmetto 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Palmetto | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chamblee Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $73,733 | +$18,733 | #729 |
| 2 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$16,686 | #836 |
| 3 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$9,977 | #1,265 |
| 4 | Duluth Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $64,755 | +$9,755 | #1,279 |
| 5 | Garden City Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $64,072 | +$9,072 | #1,314 |
| 6 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | +$8,684 | #1,336 |
| 7 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | +$8,440 | #1,354 |
| 8 | Hall County Sheriff's Office | County | 283 | $63,365 | +$8,365 | #1,359 |
| 9 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | +$7,462 | #1,413 |
| 10 | Dunwoody Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $62,301 | +$7,301 | #1,428 |
| 11 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | +$6,989 | #1,450 |
| 12 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | +$6,100 | #1,495 |
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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