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Santa Clara 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.
Santa Clara Police Department starts at $163,619 a year — about $78.66 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $95,229 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $92,355 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA run about 10% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $148,175 somewhere at average prices — $15,444 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 212 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 isSanta Clara Police Department reported 141 sworn officers and 65 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 134,290.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 Santa Clara says about itself
The Mission of the Santa Clara Police Department is to always provide quality police service to the public. Working together, and in partnership with the community, we will identify and resolve problems utilizing all available resources. We will perform this service professionally and with integrity.
What Santa Clara does
The Santa Clara Police Department says it provides law-enforcement and policing services to the City of Santa Clara with a professional and dedicated staff. Its mission is to provide quality police service to the public, work in partnership with the community to identify and resolve problems using available resources, and perform that service professionally and with integrity. The department describes its service culture as the “Santa Clara Way” and emphasizes community connection, public service, and professional policing
Where the figure comes from
Checked 14 August 2026. Santa Clara Police Department official recruiting site — Sworn Staff salary and benefits — open the source document
Current page verified 8 August 2026; explicitly states Recruit Police Officer is reclassified after academy graduation and new Police Officers begin at Step 1, $78.66/hour = $163,619.16
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 Santa Clara 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. Santa Clara starts at $163,619, so $92,332 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Santa Clara Police Department officer make?
Santa Clara Police Department starts a new officer on $163,619 a year, about $78.66 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 Santa Clara Police Department official recruiting site — Sworn Staff salary and benefits.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #1 of 222 agencies we have verified in California — the highest in the state in the state — and #1 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $95,229 above, and against other municipal agencies $92,355 above.
Compare with another department
Put Santa Clara 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 Santa | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | −$14,176 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | −$15,677 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | −$19,616 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | −$20,523 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | −$22,595 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | −$23,879 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | −$24,654 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | −$25,358 | #9 |
| 10 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | −$31,356 | #10 |
| 11 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | −$31,583 | #11 |
| 12 | Campbell Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $131,747 | −$31,872 | #12 |
| 13 | Foster City Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $131,165 | −$32,454 | #13 |
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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