Home › Police pay › Colorado › Pueblo Police Department
Pueblo 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.
Pueblo Police Department starts at $79,228 a year — about $38.09 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,838 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $7,963 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Pueblo, CO run about 8% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $86,340 would somewhere at average prices — $7,113 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 71 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isPueblo Police Department reported 187 sworn officers and 75 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 110,981.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 Pueblo says about itself
The mission statement of the Pueblo Police Department, is "to enhance the quality of life in the City of Pueblo by working cooperatively with our community and within the framework of the United States Constitution, to solve crime problems and to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe environment."
What Pueblo does
Pueblo Police Department officers perform patrol, criminal investigations, traffic enforcement, criminal-law enforcement and community services.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $79,227.60 annual base minimum. SOURCE: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/pueblo/jobs/5367378 FINDING: Official June 2026 City recruitment is explicitly “Police Patrol Officer (Entry Level or Lateral Transfer)” and publishes $79,227. — open the source document
$79,227.60 annual base minimum. SOURCE: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/pueblo/jobs/5367378 FINDING: Official June 2026 City recruitment is explicitly “Police Patrol Officer (Entry Level or Lateral Transfer)” and publishes $79,227.60-$96,647.04 annually.
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.
How this level compares
Where Pueblo 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Pueblo starts at $79,228, so $7,941 above the municipal middle.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Pueblo Police Department officer make?
Pueblo Police Department starts a new officer on $79,228 a year, about $38.09 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 $79,227.60 annual base minimum. SOURCE: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/pueblo/jobs/5367378 FINDING: Official June 2026 City recruitment is explicitly “Police Patrol Officer (Entry Level or Lateral Transfer)” and publishes $79,227..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Colorado?
It ranks #14 of 35 agencies we have verified in Colorado — 21 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #425 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,838 above, and against other municipal agencies $7,963 above.
Compare with another department
Put Pueblo 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 CO
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Pueblo | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado State Patrol | State | 706 | $91,620 | +$12,392 | #184 |
| 2 | Parker Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $89,898 | +$10,670 | #217 |
| 3 | Johnstown Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $86,944 | +$7,716 | #266 |
| 4 | Broomfield Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $86,029 | +$6,801 | #278 |
| 5 | Golden Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $85,321 | +$6,093 | #287 |
| 6 | Lakewood Police Department | Municipal | 274 | $85,093 | +$5,865 | #291 |
| 7 | Breckenridge Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $83,990 | +$4,763 | #310 |
| 8 | Thornton Police Department | Municipal | 243 | $82,992 | +$3,764 | #332 |
| 9 | Commerce City Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $82,327 | +$3,099 | #341 |
| 10 | Larimer County Sheriff's Office | County | 228 | $81,765 | +$2,537 | #353 |
| 11 | Westminster Police Department | Municipal | 187 | $80,746 | +$1,518 | #387 |
| 12 | Boulder County Sheriff's Office | County | 106 | $80,496 | +$1,268 | #395 |
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.
Scan to install
