Home › Police pay › Georgia › Savannah Police Department
Savannah 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.
Savannah Police Department starts at $61,989 a year — about $29.80 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,401 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $9,275 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Savannah, GA run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,110 would somewhere at average prices — $3,121 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 86 against a national average of 100, 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.
How big the department isSavannah Police Department reported 425 sworn officers and 110 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 242,372.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 Savannah says about itself
The actions of these officers exemplify the three core components of SPD's mission: service; protection; and the fostering of trust within the community.
What Savannah does
Savannah Police promotes community safety and security by apprehending offenders, deterring crime, working with the community, managing public-safety risks, enforcing laws and investigating crimes against persons and property.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 14 August 2026. City of Savannah — Police Officer — open the source document
Opening Date 1 January 2026 | Class: Police Officer | Post-academy: yes — posting states Police Officer Trainee moves to Police Officer after academy graduation and being sworn | Official City GovernmentJobs posting expressly separates non-sworn trainee pay of $48,484 from sworn Police Officer pay of $61,989 after academy graduation and swearing-in.
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.
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 this level compares
Where Savannah 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. Savannah starts at $61,989, so $9,298 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Savannah Police Department officer make?
Savannah Police Department starts a new officer on $61,989 a year, about $29.80 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 Savannah — Police Officer.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #6 of 25 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 19 pay less, 5 pay more in the state — and #1,156 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,401 below, and against other municipal agencies $9,275 below.
Compare with another department
Put Savannah 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Savannah | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$9,697 | #687 |
| 2 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$2,988 | #1,027 |
| 3 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | +$1,695 | #1,072 |
| 4 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | +$1,451 | #1,086 |
| 5 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | +$473 | #1,135 |
| 7 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | −$889 | #1,190 |
| 8 | Atlanta Police Department | Municipal | 1,817 | $60,987 | −$1,002 | #1,196 |
| 9 | Snellville Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $60,905 | −$1,084 | #1,199 |
| 10 | Fulton County Sheriff's Office | County | 349 | $60,000 | −$1,989 | #1,240 |
| 11 | Fulton County Police Department | Municipal | 349 | $60,000 | −$1,989 | #1,249 |
| 12 | Athens-Clarke County Police Department | Municipal | 235 | $59,287 | −$2,702 | #1,275 |
| 13 | DeKalb County Sheriff's Office | County | 306 | $57,919 | −$4,070 | #1,327 |
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
