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Sunset 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.
Sunset Police Department starts at $59,280 a year — about $28.50 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,110 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $11,984 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Utah run about 1% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $59,961 would somewhere at average prices — $681 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 79, where goods are 96. 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.
What Sunset says about itself
The mission of the Sunset Police Department is: To enhance the quality of life in our community by working cooperatively with the public and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear, and provide for a safe environment and atmosphere for all citizens and businesses of the community.
What Sunset does
Sunset Police Department is a small Davis County agency working from 200 West 1300 North, whose stated mission is to enhance the quality of life in the community by working cooperatively with the public, and which runs its own daytime phone line while sharing an after-hours dispatch center
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 August 2026. Sunset City Police Department Employment Opportunity, “Lateral or Entry-Level Police Officer” (30 July 2025) — open the source document
Their source is effective 30 July 2025.
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.
How this level compares
Where Sunset 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. Sunset starts at $59,280, so $12,007 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Sunset Police Department officer make?
Sunset Police Department starts a new officer on $59,280 a year, about $28.50 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 Sunset City Police Department Employment Opportunity, “Lateral or Entry-Level Police Officer” (30 July 2025).
Is that good pay for a police officer in Utah?
It ranks #26 of 31 agencies we have verified in Utah — 5 pay less, 25 pay more in the state — and #1,276 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,110 below, and against other municipal agencies $11,984 below.
Compare with another department
Put Sunset 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 UT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Sunset | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City Police Department | Municipal | 589 | $76,315 | +$17,035 | #503 |
| 2 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,982 | +$16,702 | #518 |
| 3 | Taylorsville Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,941 | +$16,661 | #523 |
| 4 | Utah Highway Patrol | State | 536 | $75,878 | +$16,598 | #525 |
| 5 | Sandy Police Department | Municipal | — | $73,112 | +$13,832 | #621 |
| 6 | West Valley City Police Department | Municipal | — | $73,045 | +$13,765 | #625 |
| 7 | Cottonwood Heights Police Department | Municipal | — | $69,763 | +$10,483 | #785 |
| 8 | Murray City Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $68,890 | +$9,610 | #821 |
| 9 | Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake | Municipal | — | $68,099 | +$8,819 | #858 |
| 10 | South Salt Lake Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,997 | +$7,717 | #916 |
| 11 | Orem Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,768 | +$7,488 | #931 |
| 12 | Moab Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,747 | +$7,467 | #936 |
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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