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Richmond 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.
Richmond Police Department starts at $63,988 a year — about $30.76 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,279 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $4,798 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Kentucky run about 10% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,972 would somewhere at average prices — $6,984 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 64 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isRichmond Police Department reported 65 sworn officers and 18 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 40,736.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.
About Richmond
The Richmond Police Department polices Richmond, the seat of Madison County in central Kentucky and one of the fastest-growing cities in the state. The department publishes its work in sections covering patrol and police services, a professional standards division that runs recruitment and hiring, victim and community services, community outreach and engagement, and youth and young adult programmes. It states five core values for the agency and for the people it hires: community partnership, professional service, accountability, integrity and respect. New officers complete a 20-week Department of Criminal Justice Training academy followed by field training before solo patrol.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. City of Richmond Police Department, Recruitment FAQs ("How much does RPD pay?") — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the department's own recruitment FAQs, which answer the pay question directly: a police recruit with no policing experience makes $63,988 on completion of the basic training academy. That is the post-academy sworn rate this site publishes, and it is explicitly the no-experience route - the same answer prices a lateral transfer with three or more years' service separately at $68,792 plus a transfer incentive of up to $15,000, which is excluded here. An applicant must be 20 to apply and 21 by graduation from the Department of Criminal Justice Training basic academy at Richmond, needs a high school diploma or GED, and there is no maximum age.
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 Richmond 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Richmond starts at $63,988, so $4,798 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Richmond Police Department officer make?
Richmond Police Department starts a new officer on $63,988 a year, about $30.76 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 Richmond Police Department, Recruitment FAQs ("How much does RPD pay?").
Is that good pay for a police officer in Kentucky?
It ranks #5 of 14 agencies we have verified in Kentucky — 9 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #1,211 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,279 below, and against other municipal agencies $4,798 below.
Compare with another department
Put Richmond 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 KY
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Richmond | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kentucky State Police | State | 1,078 | $71,000 | +$7,012 | #808 |
| 2 | Louisville Metro Police Department | Municipal | 1,013 | $66,760 | +$2,772 | #1,054 |
| 3 | Paducah Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $65,146 | +$1,158 | #1,148 |
| 4 | Lexington Police Department | Municipal | 541 | $64,424 | +$436 | #1,190 |
| 6 | Bowling Green Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $63,839 | −$149 | #1,220 |
| 7 | University of Kentucky Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 76 | $63,200 | −$788 | #1,260 |
| 8 | Owensboro Police Department | Municipal | 101 | $62,254 | −$1,734 | #1,311 |
| 9 | Elizabethtown Police Department | Municipal | 77 | $57,200 | −$6,788 | #1,585 |
| 10 | Georgetown Police Department | Municipal | 75 | $55,345 | −$8,643 | #1,656 |
| 11 | Henderson Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $51,778 | −$12,210 | #1,806 |
| 12 | Hopkinsville Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $51,239 | −$12,749 | #1,821 |
| 13 | Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources — Law Enforcement Division | State | — | $47,794 | −$16,194 | #1,934 |
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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