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Santa Maria 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 Maria Police Department starts at $97,088 a year — about $46.68 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $30,403 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $28,948 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $89,237 somewhere at average prices — $7,851 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 151 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 Maria Police Department reported 118 sworn officers and 61 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 111,741.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 Maria says about itself
The Santa Maria Police Department is committed to serving our community by enhancing public safety. Under the philosophy of community based policing the department strives to protect and serve the citizens of Santa Maria and provides all individuals within the city limits with a full range of professional police services.
What Santa Maria does
The Santa Maria Police Department describes itself as committed to protecting life and property, preserving peace, preventing and investigating crime, enforcing laws, and providing professional service. Its official materials emphasize service, integrity, respect, accountability, teamwork, community partnership, and public trust
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Santa Maria official Police Offic — open the source document
Current continuous official academy-graduate recruitment verified 8 August 2026; minimum $97,087.68
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 Maria 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 Maria starts at $97,088, so $28,948 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Santa Maria Police Department officer make?
Santa Maria Police Department starts a new officer on $97,088 a year, about $46.68 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 Maria official Police Offic.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #140 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 138 pay less, 139 pay more in the state — and #161 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $30,403 above, and against other municipal agencies $28,948 above.
Compare with another department
Put Santa Maria 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$66,531 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$52,355 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$50,854 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$46,916 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$46,008 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$43,936 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$42,652 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$41,877 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$41,173 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$35,306 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$35,175 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$34,948 | #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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