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Santa Fe 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 Fe Police Department starts at $75,046 a year — about $36.08 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,362 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $6,906 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Santa Fe, NM run about 1% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,983 would somewhere at average prices — $937 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 77, where goods are 96. 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.
What Santa Fe says about itself
We, the members of the Santa Fe Police Department, are committed to excellence in law enforcement and are dedicated to the people, traditions, and diversity of our City. Through empowerment by the community, we remain devoted to protecting lives, property, and the rights of all people and to maintaining order and enforcing the law impartially.
What Santa Fe does
Santa Fe Police Department provides municipal police and public-safety services through sworn Police Officers assigned to Police Operations.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Santa Fe Human Resources Employee Salaries & Positions — open the source document
Their source is effective 8 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.
How this level compares
Where Santa Fe 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. Santa Fe starts at $75,046, so $6,906 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Santa Fe Police Department officer make?
Santa Fe Police Department starts a new officer on $75,046 a year, about $36.08 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 Santa Fe Human Resources Employee Salaries & Positions.
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Mexico?
It ranks #1 of 22 agencies we have verified in New Mexico — the highest in the state in the state — and #674 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,362 above, and against other municipal agencies $6,906 above.
Compare with another department
Put Santa Fe 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 NM
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Santa | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | New Mexico State Police | State | 1,174 | $70,845 | −$4,202 | #891 |
| 3 | Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office | County | 141 | $68,318 | −$6,728 | #1,032 |
| 4 | Farmington Police Department | Municipal | 119 | $66,102 | −$8,944 | #1,179 |
| 5 | Albuquerque Police Department | Municipal | 966 | $65,499 | −$9,547 | #1,220 |
| 6 | San Juan County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $63,045 | −$12,002 | #1,381 |
| 7 | Las Vegas Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $62,400 | −$12,646 | #1,424 |
| 8 | Valencia County Sheriff's Office | County | 48 | $62,150 | −$12,896 | #1,439 |
| 9 | Lincoln County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $60,757 | −$14,290 | #1,520 |
| 10 | Carlsbad Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $59,842 | −$15,205 | #1,589 |
| 11 | McKinley County Sheriff's Office | County | 37 | $59,675 | −$15,371 | #1,598 |
| 12 | Los Lunas Police Department | Municipal | — | $59,212 | −$15,834 | #1,620 |
| 13 | Belen Police Department | Municipal | — | $57,845 | −$17,202 | #1,696 |
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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