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Rowley 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.
Rowley Police Department starts at $66,397 a year — about $31.92 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $288 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,743 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Massachusetts run about 6% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $62,782 somewhere at average prices — $3,614 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 152 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 isRowley Police Department reported 10 sworn officers and 1 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 6,361.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 Rowley says about itself
The Rowley Police Department provides around-the-clock public safety services for the Town of Rowley.
What Rowley does
The Rowley Police Department provides round-the-clock public safety services to a growing suburban community of about 6,300 on the Massachusetts seacoast, 32 miles north of Boston along Routes 1 and 95, answering roughly 20,000 calls a year from serious crime and medical emergencies to minor disturbances. Its sworn staff is the chief, a captain serving as executive officer, three sergeants, a detective and six patrol officers - twelve full-time - with eight to ten reserve officers covering leave and extra demand. Dispatch is handled regionally by North Shore Regional 911 in Middleton, which also answers for Amesbury, Essex, Middleton, Topsfield, Wenham and Manchester-by-the-Sea
Rowley’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Rowley's own vacancy notice states a 4 and 2 schedule with shift differentials of 7% on evenings and 9% on overnights.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
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September 2026
Four on, two off is a six-day cycle, so the same weekday is a workday one week and a rest day the next. BlueShifts draws the cycle once and carries it forward month by month.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 6 September 2026. Rowley Police Department job vacancy notice, Full Time Patrol Officer, published by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — open the source document
The Department's own vacancy notice, on Chief Stephen May's letterhead and hosted by the Commonwealth, read 6 September 2026: FY25 salary package entry level range $66,396.58. The figure is the town's most recent published one and is a fiscal-year 2025 rate; the post is subject to the collective bargaining agreement between the town and MA COP Local 360, so a successor rate will supersede it. Entry needs a high school diploma and graduation from the MPTC full-time academy or an MPTC exemption - a training requirement, not prior sworn service. Education incentives, overtime, details, longevity, EMT and officer-in-charge stipends and shift differentials of 7% evenings and 9% overnights are stated separately and 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.
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How this level compares
Where Rowley 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. Rowley starts at $66,397, so $1,743 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Rowley Police Department officer make?
Rowley Police Department starts a new officer on $66,397 a year, about $31.92 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 Rowley Police Department job vacancy notice, Full Time Patrol Officer, published by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Massachusetts?
It ranks #10 of 19 agencies we have verified in Massachusetts — 9 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #1,168 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $288 below, and against other municipal agencies $1,743 below.
What shifts do Rowley Police Department officers work?
Rowley's own vacancy notice states a 4 and 2 schedule with shift differentials of 7% on evenings and 9% on overnights. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Rowley 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 MA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Rowley | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $95,568 | +$29,171 | #178 |
| 2 | Nantucket Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $92,144 | +$25,747 | #225 |
| 3 | Massachusetts State Police | State | 2,565 | $80,213 | +$13,816 | #491 |
| 4 | Tufts University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 52 | $75,962 | +$9,565 | #632 |
| 5 | Barnstable Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $75,400 | +$9,003 | #655 |
| 6 | Boston Police Department | Municipal | 2,172 | $71,861 | +$5,464 | #822 |
| 7 | Plymouth Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $67,927 | +$1,530 | #1,062 |
| 8 | West Stockbridge Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,797 | +$400 | #1,133 |
| 9 | Haverhill Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $66,652 | +$255 | #1,146 |
| 11 | Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs — Environmental Police | State | — | $65,447 | −$949 | #1,222 |
| 12 | Brockton Police Department | Municipal | 179 | $63,971 | −$2,426 | #1,321 |
| 13 | Chicopee Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $63,169 | −$3,228 | #1,373 |
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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