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Springfield 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.
Springfield Police Department starts at $57,574 a year — about $27.68 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,816 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $13,690 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Springfield, MO run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $64,993 would somewhere at average prices — $7,419 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 66 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isSpringfield Police Department reported 287 sworn officers and 105 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 170,958.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 Springfield says about itself
The Springfield Police Department is an Accredited Law Enforcement Agency comprised of an authorized strength of 367 sworn officers and 92 civilian employees. We serve a population of approximately 169,174 located in 82.5 square miles. The department is organized into two bureaus: Investigations & Support Services and Uniform Operations.
What Springfield does
The Springfield Police Department describes Police Officer work as general police duties, processes and operations protecting life and property through enforcement of federal and state laws and municipal ordinances. Its current recruit posting emphasizes constitutional, community-engaged policing, public service, fair treatment, accountability and preparation through the department's paid police academy before assignment to patrol
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Springfield, Missouri official 2026 Police Officer recrui — open the source document
Current class specification revised 25 March 2026; Police Officer minimum $27.68/hour = $57,574.40 annually. The 2026 recruitment accepts new recruits for the regular academy as well as laterals, and the class specification states an officer may qualify by graduating from the Springfield Police Academy. Lateral placement and other add-ons are excluded
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 Springfield 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. Springfield starts at $57,574, so $13,713 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Springfield Police Department officer make?
Springfield Police Department starts a new officer on $57,574 a year, about $27.68 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 Springfield, Missouri official 2026 Police Officer recrui.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Missouri?
It ranks #18 of 27 agencies we have verified in Missouri — 9 pay less, 17 pay more in the state — and #1,358 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,816 below, and against other municipal agencies $13,690 below.
Compare with another department
Put Springfield 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 MO
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Springfield | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Creve Coeur Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $71,329 | +$13,755 | #707 |
| 2 | Liberty Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $70,000 | +$12,426 | #772 |
| 3 | Kansas City Missouri Police Department | Municipal | 1,119 | $68,928 | +$11,354 | #819 |
| 4 | O'Fallon Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $67,454 | +$9,880 | #898 |
| 5 | Brentwood Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $67,418 | +$9,844 | #900 |
| 6 | St. Charles County Police Department | County | 35 | $66,060 | +$8,485 | #962 |
| 7 | Missouri State Highway Patrol | State | 1,134 | $65,400 | +$7,826 | #998 |
| 8 | Riverside Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $65,000 | +$7,426 | #1,022 |
| 9 | Ferguson Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $64,316 | +$6,741 | #1,052 |
| 10 | Gladstone Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $63,560 | +$5,986 | #1,077 |
| 11 | Ballwin Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $63,508 | +$5,933 | #1,081 |
| 12 | St. Louis County Police Department | County | 843 | $63,003 | +$5,429 | #1,110 |
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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