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Tumwater 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.
Tumwater Police Department starts at $84,612 a year — about $40.68 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $17,927 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $16,472 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA run about 4% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $81,617 somewhere at average prices — $2,995 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 117 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. 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 isTumwater Police Department reported 37 sworn officers and 11 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 28,265.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 Tumwater says about itself
We honor our police powers: maintaining trust of the public we serve is paramount and will be achieved through conscientious use of our police authority. We conduct ourselves with dignity, and we recognize that our personal conduct, both on and off duty, is inseparable from the professional reputation of both the officer and the department. The Police Department mission and core values are derived from Sir Robert Peel's Nine Principles of Policing, written in 1828, which have served as the foundation of modern policing: the basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
What Tumwater does
Tumwater says community policing is simply policing: the department works in partnership with the community to create a safe, healthy and vibrant city. It provides regular patrol, detectives, traffic enforcement, school resource officers and K-9 services, supported by civilian records, communications and crime-analysis staff. The department emphasizes motivated professional employees, high ethical standards, career development, quality equipment and wellness
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Tumwater official Entry Lev — open the source document
Current continuous City recruitment checked 8 August 2026 lists $84,612-$122,148 annually. The minimum $84,612 is used. The posting states successful entry-level candidates must complete the Washington Basic Law Enforcement Academy within 15 months; no separate post-academy base increase is stated, so the same base is carried as the first post-academy Police Officer rate. Add-ons 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 Tumwater 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. Tumwater starts at $84,612, so $16,472 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Tumwater Police Department officer make?
Tumwater Police Department starts a new officer on $84,612 a year, about $40.68 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 Tumwater official Entry Lev.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Washington?
It ranks #56 of 92 agencies we have verified in Washington — 36 pay less, 55 pay more in the state — and #360 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $17,927 above, and against other municipal agencies $16,472 above.
Compare with another department
Put Tumwater 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 WA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Tumwater | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Police Department | Municipal | 1,064 | $117,792 | +$33,180 | #38 |
| 2 | Redmond Police Department | Municipal | 81 | $110,435 | +$25,823 | #59 |
| 3 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $108,386 | +$23,774 | #68 |
| 4 | Lynnwood Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $106,371 | +$21,759 | #81 |
| 5 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 207 | $102,516 | +$17,904 | #106 |
| 6 | Vancouver Police Department | Municipal | 226 | $101,832 | +$17,220 | #110 |
| 7 | Kirkland Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $101,218 | +$16,606 | #118 |
| 8 | Tukwila Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $101,064 | +$16,452 | #120 |
| 9 | Bothell Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $101,055 | +$16,443 | #121 |
| 10 | Mount Vernon Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $100,836 | +$16,224 | #125 |
| 11 | Kennewick Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $100,104 | +$15,492 | #128 |
| 12 | Edmonds Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $99,168 | +$14,556 | #140 |
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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