Home › Police pay › California › Vacaville Police Department
Vacaville 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.
Vacaville Police Department starts at $99,903 a year — about $48.03 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $33,218 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $31,763 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $90,230 somewhere at average prices — $9,673 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 159 against a national average of 100, where goods are 106. 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.
How big the department isVacaville Police Department reported 108 sworn officers and 68 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 104,462.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 Vacaville says about itself
The Vacaville Police Department is dedicated to providing outstanding law enforcement services to the community. We are a service-oriented agency that prides itself on integrity, professionalism, and concern for the quality of life in our community. As members of the Vacaville Police Department, we treat each other and everyone we contact with decency and respect.
What Vacaville does
The Vacaville Police Department says it is dedicated to maintaining public safety and enhancing quality of life in Vacaville. Official City budget materials identify community engagement, crime suppression, crime prevention and education among its key areas of focus, while the department also emphasizes modern policing technology and responsive public-safety service
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Vacaville official Police Officer — open the source document
Posting opened 14 January 2026; the official posting states that upon successful academy completion the trainee is sworn in and promoted to Police Officer - Academy Graduate at $99,903 annually. Recruit/trainee pay, FTO-completion pay, hiring incentive, holiday pay, uniform allowance, education pay, shift differential and other add-ons are 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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Vacaville 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. Vacaville starts at $99,903, so $31,763 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Vacaville Police Department officer make?
Vacaville Police Department starts a new officer on $99,903 a year, about $48.03 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 Vacaville official Police Officer.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #116 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 162 pay less, 115 pay more in the state — and #131 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $33,218 above, and against other municipal agencies $31,763 above.
Compare with another department
Put Vacaville 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 Vacaville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$63,716 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$49,540 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$48,039 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$44,100 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$43,193 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$41,121 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$39,837 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$39,062 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$38,358 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$32,491 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$32,360 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$32,133 | #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.
Scan to install
