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Riverside 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.
Riverside Police Department starts at $65,000 a year — about $31.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,390 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $6,264 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Missouri run about 9% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $71,573 would somewhere at average prices — $6,573 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 70 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 isRiverside Police Department reported 25 sworn officers and 10 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 5.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 4,630.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 Riverside says about itself
The Riverside Police Department exists for the purpose of protecting life and preserving property with impartiality, for the citizens and visitors of the Riverside community. The Department will act, without hesitation, to preserve and enforce the Constitution of the United States of America, the State of Missouri and ordinances of the City of Riverside.
What Riverside does
Riverside Police Officers protect and preserve the lives and property of city residents. They patrol residential, commercial and public areas, deter and investigate crime, enforce laws, issue citations, conduct accident and follow-up investigations, preserve evidence, arrest offenders and testify in court.
Shifts at Riverside
The Patrol Division consists of four squads assigned to road patrol duties, K-9 and SWAT, with thirty full-time officers responding to over 13,000 calls for service each year.
Thirty officers, four squads, and a casino, an amphitheater and a high school in the same small city - the calls do not respect the roster. BlueShifts keeps the tour and the call-outs on one calendar.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. employer-controlled NEOGOV class specification — open the source document
Their source is effective 25 September 2023.
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 Riverside 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. Riverside starts at $65,000, so $6,287 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Riverside Police Department officer make?
Riverside Police Department starts a new officer on $65,000 a year, about $31.25 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 employer-controlled NEOGOV class specification.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Missouri?
It ranks #8 of 27 agencies we have verified in Missouri — 19 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #1,022 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,390 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,264 below.
What shifts do Riverside Police Department officers work?
The Patrol Division consists of four squads assigned to road patrol duties, K-9 and SWAT, with thirty full-time officers responding to over 13,000 calls for service each year. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Riverside 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 MO
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Riverside | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Creve Coeur Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $71,329 | +$6,329 | #707 |
| 2 | Liberty Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $70,000 | +$5,000 | #772 |
| 3 | Kansas City Missouri Police Department | Municipal | 1,119 | $68,928 | +$3,928 | #819 |
| 4 | O'Fallon Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $67,454 | +$2,454 | #898 |
| 5 | Brentwood Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $67,418 | +$2,418 | #900 |
| 6 | St. Charles County Police Department | County | 35 | $66,060 | +$1,060 | #962 |
| 7 | Missouri State Highway Patrol | State | 1,134 | $65,400 | +$400 | #998 |
| 9 | Ferguson Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $64,316 | −$684 | #1,052 |
| 10 | Gladstone Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $63,560 | −$1,440 | #1,077 |
| 11 | Ballwin Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $63,508 | −$1,492 | #1,081 |
| 12 | St. Louis County Police Department | County | 843 | $63,003 | −$1,997 | #1,110 |
| 13 | Columbia Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $60,611 | −$4,389 | #1,208 |
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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