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Tustin 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.
Tustin Police Department starts at $101,629 a year — about $48.86 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $33,239 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $30,365 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA run about 14% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $89,489 somewhere at average prices — $12,140 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 170 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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 isTustin Police Department reported 89 sworn officers and 51 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 78,611.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 Tustin says about itself
To proudly serve the City of Tustin with integrity, professionalism, and compassion by delivering exceptional service, embracing innovation, and building trust through community engagement. As an organization, our principal goals are the preservation and protection of human life.
What Tustin does
Tustin Police Department patrols roughly 11 square miles of Orange County for a population of almost 80,000, with around 100 sworn officers and 55 civilian support staff across three bureaus — Operations, Investigations and Support Services. The city is split into two area commands, North and South, divided by the I-5 freeway, and officers are assigned to an area for two years at a time. Patrol runs two lieutenants, 12 sergeants and 39 officers. The department works to an intelligence-based model it calls Crime and Traffic Analysis and Policing Strategies, in which commanders meet regularly to map crime and traffic trends, agree tactics for their areas and are then held accountable for whether those strategies worked.
Shifts at Tustin
Tustin divides the city into North and South Area Commands either side of the I-5, and officers are assigned to an area for two years at a time. Employees in this bargaining unit may be assigned the 3/12.5 or 4/10 alternative work schedule.
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
A two-year posting means your patch, your team and often your hours change together. BlueShifts lets you rebuild the pattern when the assignment moves, without starting the calendar again from scratch.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $101,628.80 annual Police Officer minimum. Current official City Police Officer class specification publishes $101,628. — open the source document
$101,628.80 annual Police Officer minimum. Current official City Police Officer class specification publishes $101,628.80-$136,988.80 annually. The current 2026 Recruit classification explicitly states recruits are non-sworn before academy completion and may then be promoted
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
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How this level compares
Where Tustin 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. Tustin starts at $101,629, so $30,342 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Tustin Police Department officer make?
Tustin Police Department starts a new officer on $101,629 a year, about $48.86 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 $101,628.80 annual Police Officer minimum. Current official City Police Officer class specification publishes $101,628..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #81 of 222 agencies we have verified in California — 141 pay less, 80 pay more in the state — and #89 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $33,239 above, and against other municipal agencies $30,365 above.
What shifts do Tustin Police Department officers work?
Tustin divides the city into North and South Area Commands either side of the I-5, and officers are assigned to an area for two years at a time. Employees in this bargaining unit may be assigned the 3/12.5 or 4/10 alternative work schedule. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Tustin 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Tustin | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$61,990 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$47,814 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$46,313 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$42,375 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$41,467 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$39,395 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$38,111 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$37,336 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$36,632 | #9 |
| 10 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$30,634 | #10 |
| 11 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$30,407 | #11 |
| 12 | Campbell Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $131,747 | +$30,118 | #12 |
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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