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Temple 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.
Temple Police Department starts at $70,500 a year — about $33.89 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,110 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $764 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Texas run about 3% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $72,638 would somewhere at average prices — $2,138 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 88, where goods are 98. 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.
About Temple
Temple Police Department works to stated values of Integrity, Honor and Dedication across Administration, Investigations and Special Operations bureaus, the last covering community policing, school resource officers, traffic and patrol K-9s. It is a Texas Police Chiefs Association Recognized agency, runs the Temple Police Academy in-house, operates under civil service, and offers new officers a moving incentive to relocate within 45 minutes of headquarters
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 August 2026. City of Temple official applicant portal — Police Civil Service Exam Registration posting, base salary effective 29 Sep 2023 — open the source document
City of Temple's own applicant portal (Dayforce, myhrtempletx), Police Civil Service Exam Registration postings: 'BASE SALARY: $33.8943/hourly - Effective 9/29/2023, uniforms furnished - (Non-Certified Officers and TCOLE Certified Officers with LESS than one-year prior service as a police officer)'. $33.8943 x 2,080 = $70,500.14. THE POSTING DEFINES THE ENTRY CLASS IN TERMS: non-certified officers, and certified officers with under a year of prior service, are paid the same base — so this is the no-prior-service rate. Temple runs a SEPARATE Lateral Entry Program (Article 9 of the meet and confer agreement) for applicants with two or more years' service, where the Department Head may place a candidate anywhere up to the top step. THE MEET AND CONFER AGREEMENT CARRIES NO WAGE TABLE: the executed 2025-2026 agreement (1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026) is fully readable, but Article 4 Compensation states only that officers are placed in a step 'as of the date of hire' and refers to an 'Attachment A - Rank Structure and Steps Within Rank' that is not in the document. Base only; shift differential, TCOLE certification and education incentive pay are all separate, and hiring and relocation incentives are excluded. Class: base salary for non-certified officers and TCOLE-certified officers with under a year of prior service | Post-academy: no separate class, the posting prices both together. Temple's Lateral Entry Program under Article 9 of the meet and confer agreement is a different route, for applicants with two or more years of service.
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 Temple 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. Temple starts at $70,500, so $787 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Temple Police Department officer make?
Temple Police Department starts a new officer on $70,500 a year, about $33.89 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 Temple official applicant portal — Police Civil Service Exam Registration posting, base salary effective 29 Sep 2023.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Texas?
It ranks #83 of 140 agencies we have verified in Texas — 57 pay less, 82 pay more in the state — and #743 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,110 above, and against other municipal agencies $764 below.
Compare with another department
Put Temple 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 TX
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Temple | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allen Police Department | Municipal | 153 | $91,106 | +$20,606 | #192 |
| 2 | Frisco Police Department | Municipal | 270 | $90,750 | +$20,250 | #200 |
| 3 | Plano Police Department | Municipal | 414 | $90,729 | +$20,229 | #201 |
| 4 | Grand Prairie Police Department | Municipal | 287 | $90,000 | +$19,500 | #216 |
| 5 | Hurst Police Department | Municipal | — | $87,048 | +$16,548 | #264 |
| 6 | Lewisville Police Department | Municipal | 181 | $86,268 | +$15,768 | #276 |
| 7 | Coppell Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $84,968 | +$14,468 | #293 |
| 8 | Rockwall Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $84,448 | +$13,948 | #300 |
| 9 | The Colony Police Department | Municipal | — | $84,082 | +$13,582 | #306 |
| 10 | Baytown Police Department | Municipal | — | $84,049 | +$13,549 | #307 |
| 11 | McKinney Police Department | Municipal | 248 | $83,992 | +$13,492 | #309 |
| 12 | Mesquite Police Department | Municipal | 260 | $83,869 | +$13,368 | #312 |
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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