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Punta Gorda 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.
Punta Gorda Police Department starts at $64,079 a year — about $30.81 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,606 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,061 below the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isPunta Gorda Police Department reported 47 sworn officers and 18 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 20,614.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 Punta Gorda says about itself
The Punta Gorda Police Department's mission is to provide the highest level of professional police services. Every member of the agency serves with pride, integrity, fairness, respect, compassion, and dedication. We strive to deliver outstanding customer service while partnering with the community we protect and serve.
What Punta Gorda does
The City's class specification calls this an entry-level law-enforcement position performing the full range of police duties necessary to enforce laws and ordinances, including patrol, apprehension, emergency response, investigations, evidence processing, reports and court testimony.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Punta Gorda official Police Officer testing announcement — open the source document
Announcement dated 11 May 2026, live at checking; salary range beginning $64,078.56 and stating expressly that the starting salary will be $64,078.56.
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 Punta Gorda 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. Punta Gorda starts at $64,079, so $4,061 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Punta Gorda Police Department officer make?
Punta Gorda Police Department starts a new officer on $64,079 a year, about $30.81 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 Punta Gorda official Police Officer testing announcement.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #111 of 303 agencies we have verified in Florida — 192 pay less, 110 pay more in the state — and #1,313 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,606 below, and against other municipal agencies $4,061 below.
Compare with another department
Put Punta Gorda 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 Punta | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $91,007 | +$26,928 | #244 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$17,644 | #433 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$16,921 | #459 |
| 4 | Hillsboro Beach Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,954 | +$16,875 | #461 |
| 5 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$16,833 | #464 |
| 6 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$15,921 | #496 |
| 7 | Indian Creek Village Public Safety Department | Municipal | 10 | $79,850 | +$15,771 | #500 |
| 8 | Sunrise Police Department | Municipal | 190 | $79,071 | +$14,992 | #520 |
| 9 | Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,720 | $78,828 | +$14,749 | #526 |
| 10 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$14,477 | #536 |
| 11 | Longboat Key Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $78,430 | +$14,352 | #543 |
| 12 | Manalapan Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $78,280 | +$14,201 | #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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