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Salem 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.
Salem Police Department starts at $81,349 a year — about $39.11 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,959 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $10,085 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Salem, OR run about 4% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $78,485 somewhere at average prices — $2,864 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 110 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isSalem Police Department reported 185 sworn officers and 50 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 181,534.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 Salem says about itself
Provide superior service to keep Salem safe while enhancing trust. Our vision is to be a model for 21st-century policing using effective, innovative, community-informed approaches toward improved safety.
What Salem does
Salem Police Department says its mission is to provide superior service to keep Salem safe while enhancing trust. Its vision is to be a model for 21st-century policing using effective, innovative and community-informed approaches to improve safety. Its values are collaboration, honor, integrity and compassion, and its strategic goals center on safety, trust and excellence
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Salem official Police — open the source document
Opened 22 June 2026; Step 1 is $39.11/hour = $81,348.80 annually;
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 Salem 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. Salem starts at $81,349, so $10,062 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Salem Police Department officer make?
Salem Police Department starts a new officer on $81,349 a year, about $39.11 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 Salem official Police.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Oregon?
It ranks #12 of 46 agencies we have verified in Oregon — 34 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #366 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,959 above, and against other municipal agencies $10,085 above.
Compare with another department
Put Salem 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 OR
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Salem | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tigard Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $86,596 | +$5,248 | #271 |
| 2 | Bend Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $86,432 | +$5,083 | #273 |
| 3 | Washington County Sheriff's Office | County | 219 | $85,738 | +$4,389 | #280 |
| 4 | Gresham Police Department | Municipal | 123 | $84,968 | +$3,619 | #292 |
| 5 | Portland Police Bureau | Municipal | 809 | $84,000 | +$2,651 | #308 |
| 6 | Hillsboro Police Department | Municipal | 144 | $83,988 | +$2,639 | #311 |
| 7 | Corvallis Police Department | Municipal | 67 | $82,747 | +$1,398 | #337 |
| 8 | Lane County Sheriff's Office | County | 75 | $82,181 | +$832 | #344 |
| 9 | Multnomah County Sheriff's Office | County | 132 | $82,035 | +$686 | #348 |
| 10 | Tualatin Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $81,973 | +$624 | #349 |
| 11 | Oregon City Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $81,564 | +$215 | #359 |
| 13 | Canby Police Department | Municipal | 28 | $80,883 | −$466 | #384 |
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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