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Puerto Rico Police Bureau 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.
Puerto Rico Police Bureau starts at $43,354 a year — about $20.84 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $25,036 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $15,118 above the median for territory agencies.
About Puerto Rico
The Negociado de la Policía de Puerto Rico polices the whole of the Commonwealth from its Cuartel General on Avenida Franklin Delano Roosevelt in San Juan, handling both traffic and criminal enforcement across 78 municipalities. It sits within the Departamento de Seguridad Pública alongside the Special Investigations Bureau and the municipal police, and it is by a wide margin the largest law enforcement agency in any United States territory - and, after the New York City Police Department, one of the largest anywhere in the United States.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 18 August 2026. Negociado de la Policía de Puerto Rico — División de Reclutamiento, Beneficios de Agente, published 10 July 2026 — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 2026.
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 Puerto Rico 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. Puerto Rico starts at $43,354, so $15,118 above the territory middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Puerto Rico Police Bureau officer make?
Puerto Rico Police Bureau starts a new officer on $43,354 a year, about $20.84 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 Negociado de la Policía de Puerto Rico — División de Reclutamiento, Beneficios de Agente, published 10 July 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Puerto Rico?
It ranks #1 of 5 agencies we have verified in Puerto Rico — the highest in the state in the state — and #1,642 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $25,036 below, and against other territory agencies $15,118 above.
The agencies either side of it
Other agencies in PR
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Puerto | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | San Juan Municipal Police | Territory | 644 | $32,820 | −$10,534 | #1,675 |
| 3 | Caguas Municipal Police | Territory | 108 | $28,236 | −$15,118 | #1,677 |
| 4 | San Lorenzo Municipal Police | Territory | 15 | $25,200 | −$18,154 | #1,678 |
| 5 | Coamo Municipal Police | Territory | 15 | $24,000 | −$19,354 | #1,679 |
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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