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Spartanburg 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.
Spartanburg Police Department starts at $47,986 a year — about $23.07 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $20,404 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $23,279 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Spartanburg, SC run about 9% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $52,702 would somewhere at average prices — $4,716 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 68 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 isSpartanburg Police Department reported 118 sworn officers and 17 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 3.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 39,862.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 Spartanburg says about itself
The Spartanburg Police Department, located at 206 N. Forest Street, is a nationally accredited, professional police service dedicated to making Spartanburg a safer place to live by fighting crime and improving the quality of life in our City's neighborhoods.
What Spartanburg does
Spartanburg Police Department is a nationally accredited professional police service focused on fighting crime and improving neighborhood quality of life. Officers patrol the City, enforce traffic and criminal laws, respond to emergencies and domestic violence, investigate crimes, serve warrants, make arrests and testify in court
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Spartanburg official 2026 — open the source document
Opened 5 January 2026; continuous; entry-level minimum $47,985.60 annually. Minimum qualifications are HS/GED, age 21, citizenship and ability to obtain South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy certification; prior police experience is not required
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 Spartanburg 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. Spartanburg starts at $47,986, so $23,301 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Spartanburg Police Department officer make?
Spartanburg Police Department starts a new officer on $47,986 a year, about $23.07 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 Spartanburg official 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Carolina?
It ranks #14 of 16 agencies we have verified in South Carolina — 2 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #1,596 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $20,404 below, and against other municipal agencies $23,279 below.
Compare with another department
Put Spartanburg 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 SC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Spartanburg | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $66,747 | +$18,762 | #935 |
| 2 | South Carolina Highway Patrol | State | 1,004 | $60,761 | +$12,775 | #1,205 |
| 3 | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 98 | $60,000 | +$12,014 | #1,244 |
| 4 | Greenville County Sheriff's Office | County | 576 | $59,273 | +$11,287 | #1,277 |
| 5 | Greenville Police Department | Municipal | 219 | $57,353 | +$9,368 | #1,364 |
| 6 | University of South Carolina Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 6 | $56,696 | +$8,710 | #1,379 |
| 7 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 305 | $54,878 | +$6,892 | #1,442 |
| 8 | Charleston County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $54,475 | +$6,489 | #1,454 |
| 9 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $54,122 | +$6,136 | #1,460 |
| 10 | Lexington County Sheriff's Department | County | 296 | $53,351 | +$5,365 | #1,489 |
| 11 | Horry County Police Department | County | 87 | $53,022 | +$5,036 | #1,496 |
| 12 | Beaufort County Sheriff's Office | County | 212 | $50,107 | +$2,122 | #1,560 |
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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