BlueShifts shield logo BlueShiftsPolice Calendar app

HomePolice payMichigan › Sault Ste. Marie Police Department

Sault Ste. Marie 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.

Sault Ste. Marie Police Department starts at $56,246 a year — about $27.04 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,144 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $15,018 below the median for municipal agencies.

Cost of livingPrices in Michigan run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $58,457 would somewhere at average prices — $2,211 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 82 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isSault Ste. Marie Police Department reported 22 sworn officers and 18 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 13,272.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 Sault Ste. Marie says about itself

The Department provides full law enforcement services to the community 24/7. DESCRIPTION: The Sault Ste. Marie Police Department is the City's full-service municipal law-enforcement agency, providing continuous police services to the community, including patrol, response, investigation and enforcement.

What Sault Ste. Marie does

Sault Ste. Marie Police Department is the City's full-service agency, providing law enforcement to the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Where the figure comes from

Checked 13 August 2026. $56,246/year ($27.04/hour) starting Patrol Officer salary. — open the source document
$56,246/year ($27.04/hour) starting Patrol Officer salary.
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 Sault Ste. Marie sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.

LevelLowestMedianHighestAgencies
Municipal$35,006$71,287$163,6191046
County$36,492$65,374$132,263416
Special jurisdiction$31,200$60,195$107,95469
State$33,994$64,998$102,692143
Federal$70,477$73,502$86,5305
Territory$16,640$28,236$43,3549
What this shows

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. Sault Ste. Marie starts at $56,246, so $15,041 below the municipal middle.

BlueShifts app icon

BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.

The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.

Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.

How it ranks

Nationally #1,390of 1,681 agencies Top 83% of everything we have verified
In MI #29of 38 agencies 9 pay less, 28 pay more
Hourly to start $27on a 2,080-hour year Base pay only, before overtime or any differential

Common questions

How much does a Sault Ste. Marie Police Department officer make?

Sault Ste. Marie Police Department starts a new officer on $56,246 a year, about $27.04 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 $56,246/year ($27.04/hour) starting Patrol Officer salary..

Is that good pay for a police officer in Michigan?

It ranks #29 of 38 agencies we have verified in Michigan — 9 pay less, 28 pay more in the state — and #1,390 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,144 below, and against other municipal agencies $15,018 below.

Compare with another department

Put Sault Ste. Marie 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.

Compare Sault

The agencies either side of it

Other agencies in MI

Go
#AgencyLevelSworn #Entry payVs SaultNational
1Troy Police DepartmentMunicipal110$78,224+$21,978#452
2Grand Rapids Police DepartmentMunicipal299$77,467+$21,221#471
3Wyoming Police DepartmentMunicipal97$75,400+$19,154#539
4Sumpter Township Police DepartmentMunicipal18$71,732+$15,486#684
5Lincoln Charter Township Police DepartmentMunicipal$71,696+$15,450#686
6Macomb County Sheriff's OfficeCounty274$71,098+$14,852#718
7Muskegon Police DepartmentMunicipal70$69,888+$13,642#781
8Livonia Police DepartmentMunicipal117$69,784+$13,538#783
9Dearborn Police DepartmentMunicipal186$69,080+$12,834#810
10Plymouth Township Police DepartmentMunicipal33$68,140+$11,894#852
11Oscoda Township Police DepartmentMunicipal12$68,140+$11,894#853
12Northville Police DepartmentMunicipal12$65,956+$9,710#969

Know someone who should see this?

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.

Scan to install

QR code that opens BlueShifts on the App Store
iPhone
QR code that opens BlueShifts on Google Play
Android