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Tallahassee 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.
Tallahassee Police Department starts at $71,000 a year — about $34.13 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,315 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $2,860 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Tallahassee, FL run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,597 would somewhere at average prices — $4,597 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 79 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 isTallahassee Police Department reported 359 sworn officers and 141 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 206,918.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 Tallahassee says about itself
TPD has a responsibility to our city to deliver proactive community policing strategies, thorough and impartial investigations, and accurate documentation regarding our actions.
What Tallahassee does
Tallahassee Police Department says its officers patrol proactively to deter and locate criminal activity and enforce motor vehicle laws, while respecting every person's dignity.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Tallahassee official Becoming a Police Officer page — open the source document
2026 page; Police Officer salary range $71,000-$110,000. Police Officer Trainees earn $50,000 while attending the academy and promote after completion and the state exam.
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 Tallahassee 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 | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| 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 $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Tallahassee starts at $71,000, so $2,860 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Tallahassee Police Department officer make?
Tallahassee Police Department starts a new officer on $71,000 a year, about $34.13 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 Tallahassee official Becoming a Police Officer page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #53 of 303 agencies we have verified in Florida — 250 pay less, 52 pay more in the state — and #876 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,315 above, and against other municipal agencies $2,860 above.
Compare with another department
Put Tallahassee 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 FL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Tallahassee | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $91,007 | +$20,007 | #244 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$10,723 | #433 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$10,000 | #459 |
| 4 | Hillsboro Beach Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,954 | +$9,954 | #461 |
| 5 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$9,912 | #464 |
| 6 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$9,000 | #496 |
| 7 | Indian Creek Village Public Safety Department | Municipal | 10 | $79,850 | +$8,850 | #500 |
| 8 | Sunrise Police Department | Municipal | 190 | $79,071 | +$8,071 | #520 |
| 9 | Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,720 | $78,828 | +$7,828 | #526 |
| 10 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$7,556 | #536 |
| 11 | Longboat Key Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $78,430 | +$7,430 | #543 |
| 12 | Manalapan Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $78,280 | +$7,280 | #549 |
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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