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Sausalito 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.
Sausalito Police Department starts at $94,573 a year — about $45.47 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $27,888 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $26,433 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $85,416 somewhere at average prices — $9,157 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 isSausalito Police Department reported 15 sworn officers and 8 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 7,030.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 Sausalito says about itself
Our mission is integrity and professionalism; we are dedicated to work in partnership with our community, to enhance safety, quality of life and community trust. The Sausalito Police Department, alongside our Volunteers in Public Service, is dedicated to preserving Sausalito as a safe, vibrant, and desirable place to live, work, and play.
What Sausalito does
the department describes its role as enhancing quality of life and community security through police services, problem solving, and public partnership
Sausalito’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Sergeants and Officers are assigned on four patrol teams working a 3/12 schedule.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
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Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
A 3/12 is three twelve-hour shifts a week, which never lines up with a calendar week and drifts through the month. BlueShifts lays out the whole year and totals the hours correctly.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $94,573 annual base upon successful academy completion. The current official Police Officer Trainee posting states trainee pay is $36. — open the source document
$94,573 annual base upon successful academy completion. The current official Police Officer Trainee posting states trainee pay is $36.38/hour during the academy and expressly states $94,573 annually upon successful completion of the academy.
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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Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Sausalito 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. Sausalito starts at $94,573, so $26,433 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Sausalito Police Department officer make?
Sausalito Police Department starts a new officer on $94,573 a year, about $45.47 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 $94,573 annual base upon successful academy completion. The current official Police Officer Trainee posting states trainee pay is $36..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #158 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 120 pay less, 157 pay more in the state — and #189 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $27,888 above, and against other municipal agencies $26,433 above.
What shifts do Sausalito Police Department officers work?
Sergeants and Officers are assigned on four patrol teams working a 3/12 schedule. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Sausalito 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 Sausalito | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$69,046 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$54,870 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$53,369 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$49,430 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$48,523 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$46,451 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$45,167 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$44,392 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$43,688 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$37,821 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$37,690 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$37,463 | #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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