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Sierra Vista 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.
Sierra Vista Police Department starts at $60,008 a year — about $28.85 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,382 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $11,256 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $67,241 would somewhere at average prices — $7,233 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 62 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 isSierra Vista Police Department reported 65 sworn officers and 29 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 44,541.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 Sierra Vista says about itself
The mission of the Sierra Vista Police Department is to protect and serve through professional, proactive, and innovative police services. As we strive to accomplish this mission, we prioritize community partnerships and value in-person interaction with our citizens.
What Sierra Vista does
Sierra Vista Police Department provides professional municipal police services through patrol, investigations, traffic enforcement, crime prevention and community outreach. Official City materials emphasize public safety, integrity, professional service and partnerships with residents, businesses and visitors
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Sierra Vista official P — open the source document
Opened 18 January 2026; city explicitly states no-experience hires remain at recruit pay through academy, field training, and the one-year probation period. Therefore the immediate first-day-after-academy rate is still $28.85/hour = $60,008
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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How this level compares
Where Sierra Vista 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. Sierra Vista starts at $60,008, so $11,279 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Sierra Vista Police Department officer make?
Sierra Vista Police Department starts a new officer on $60,008 a year, about $28.85 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 Sierra Vista official P.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arizona?
It ranks #24 of 26 agencies we have verified in Arizona — 2 pay less, 23 pay more in the state — and #1,236 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,382 below, and against other municipal agencies $11,256 below.
Compare with another department
Put Sierra Vista 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 AZ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Sierra | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goodyear Police Department | Municipal | 174 | $77,147 | +$17,139 | #475 |
| 2 | Phoenix Police Department | Municipal | 2,490 | $75,847 | +$15,839 | #526 |
| 3 | Queen Creek Police Department | Municipal | 132 | $74,693 | +$14,685 | #569 |
| 4 | Chandler Police Department | Municipal | 348 | $74,610 | +$14,602 | #573 |
| 5 | Mesa Police Department | Municipal | 885 | $73,972 | +$13,964 | #596 |
| 6 | Casa Grande Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $72,860 | +$12,852 | #632 |
| 7 | El Mirage Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $71,573 | +$11,565 | #693 |
| 8 | Maricopa Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $71,074 | +$11,066 | #719 |
| 9 | Flagstaff Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $68,203 | +$8,195 | #850 |
| 10 | Navajo County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $67,496 | +$7,488 | #892 |
| 11 | Bullhead City Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $67,038 | +$7,030 | #914 |
| 12 | Show Low Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $66,581 | +$6,573 | #943 |
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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