BlueShifts shield logo BlueShiftsPolice Calendar app

Home › Police pay › New Hampshire › Rochester Police Department

Rochester 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.

Rochester Police Department starts at $63,960 a year — about $30.75 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,725 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,180 below the median for municipal agencies.

Cost of livingPrices in New Hampshire run about 4% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $61,403 somewhere at average prices — $2,557 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 134 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. 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 isRochester Police Department reported 59 sworn officers and 15 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 33,835.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 Rochester says about itself

The primary mission of the Rochester Police Department is to safeguard life and property. We achieve this through fair and impartial enforcement, always respecting the rights and dignity of the public.

What Rochester does

Rochester Police Officers perform responsible municipal law-enforcement duties including patrol, investigations, traffic control and other work to preserve peace and order and protect life and property. Officers patrol assigned areas, respond to calls and emergencies, investigate crimes and crashes, enforce laws and ordinances, make arrests and handle public-safety incidents requiring independent judgment

Where the figure comes from

Checked 8 August 2026. City of Rochester, New Hampshire official 2026 — open the source document
Opened 7 January 2026; official Police Officer minimum $30.75/hour = $63,960 annually. Candidates must complete the Rochester Police Department recruit-training program and meet New Hampshire Police Standards and Training requirements; the posting is not lateral-only. Experience-based placement and add-ons are excluded
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.

BlueShifts app icon

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 this level compares

Where Rochester sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.

LevelLowestMedianHighestAgencies
Municipal$33,280$68,140$163,6191549
County$35,000$63,565$132,263516
Special jurisdiction$31,200$60,204$107,95471
State$33,994$65,166$110,916145
Federal$70,477$73,502$86,5305
Territory$16,640$28,236$43,3549
What this shows

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. Rochester starts at $63,960, so $4,180 below the municipal middle.

How it ranks

Nationally #1,322of 2,288 agencies Top 58% of everything we have verified
In NH #12of 17 agencies 5 pay less, 11 pay more
Hourly to start $31on a 2,080-hour year Base pay only, before overtime or any differential

Common questions

How much does a Rochester Police Department officer make?

Rochester Police Department starts a new officer on $63,960 a year, about $30.75 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 Rochester, New Hampshire official 2026.

Is that good pay for a police officer in New Hampshire?

It ranks #12 of 17 agencies we have verified in New Hampshire — 5 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #1,322 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,725 below, and against other municipal agencies $4,180 below.

Compare with another department

Put Rochester 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.

Compare Rochester

The agencies either side of it

Other agencies in NH

Go
#AgencyLevelSworn #Entry payVs RochesterNational
1Keene Police DepartmentMunicipal36$70,956+$6,996#883
2Portsmouth Police DepartmentMunicipal64$70,060+$6,100#933
3Manchester Police DepartmentMunicipal250$68,016+$4,056#1,052
4Concord Police DepartmentMunicipal79$67,995+$4,035#1,057
5Greenland Police DepartmentMunicipal8$67,700+$3,740#1,076
6New Hampshire State PoliceState350$66,872+$2,912#1,129
7Londonderry Police DepartmentMunicipal59$66,664+$2,704#1,145
8Jaffrey Police DepartmentMunicipal10$65,850+$1,890#1,197
9Hampton Police DepartmentMunicipal37$64,896+$936#1,273
10Derry Police DepartmentMunicipal59$64,314+$354#1,304
11Durham Police DepartmentMunicipal21$64,268+$308#1,305
13Chesterfield Police DepartmentMunicipal4$61,776−$2,184#1,464

Know someone who should see this?

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

QR code that opens BlueShifts on the App Store
iPhone
QR code that opens BlueShifts on Google Play
Android