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San Diego 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.
San Diego Police Department starts at $77,952 a year — about $37.48 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,267 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $9,812 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $70,405 somewhere at average prices — $7,547 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 159 against a national average of 100, where goods are 106. 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 isSan Diego Police Department reported 1,757 sworn officers and 534 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 1,409,432.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 San Diego says about itself
The vision is: serve as America's Finest police department and advance the highest levels of public safety, trust, and professionalism through fair and impartial policing, strong community partnerships, and a robust workforce. The mission is: to maintain public safety by providing the highest quality police services to all of our communities. Goal 1 is to recruit and retain a diverse, service-minded and highly-trained workforce: develop a recruitment plan that includes strategies to attract a diverse pool of candidates, including those in underrepresented communities and women, and ensure career development and advancement opportunities are available and accessible to all officers. Our department is committed to fostering a supportive, service-oriented environment.
What San Diego does
San Diego Police Department is the municipal force for California's second largest city, formed in 1889 and working from headquarters on Broadway. It polices about 372 square miles and 1.4 million residents through ten divisions and eleven stations, with an establishment of roughly 1,870 sworn officers and 600 civilian staff. Officers can move through more than 70 different assignments, and the department pays shift differentials of 3.8% for second watch and 5.3% for third watch on top of base pay.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 25 August 2026. Police Officer 1 (class 1692), step A: $37.350 hourly, $2,988.00 biweekly, $6,496 monthly. Annualised from the city's own monthly figure. — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 2026.
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 San Diego 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. San Diego starts at $77,952, so $9,812 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a San Diego Police Department officer make?
San Diego Police Department starts a new officer on $77,952 a year, about $37.48 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 Police Officer 1 (class 1692), step A: $37.350 hourly, $2,988.00 biweekly, $6,496 monthly. Annualised from the city's own monthly figure..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #230 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 48 pay less, 229 pay more in the state — and #558 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,267 above, and against other municipal agencies $9,812 above.
Compare with another department
Put San Diego 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs San | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$85,667 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$71,491 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$69,990 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$66,051 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$65,144 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$63,072 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$61,788 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$61,013 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$60,309 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$54,442 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$54,311 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$54,084 | #12 |
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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