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Waterville 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.
Waterville Police Department starts at $61,838 a year — about $29.73 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,552 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $9,426 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Maine run about 3% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $63,718 would somewhere at average prices — $1,880 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 135, where goods are 97. 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 isWaterville Police Department reported 33 sworn officers and 17 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 17,503.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 Waterville says about itself
The mission of the Waterville Police Department is to enhance the quality of life throughout the City of Waterville by working cooperatively with all citizens to preserve the peace, enforce the law, reduce the perception of fear, protect the rights of individuals, and promote a safe and caring environment.
What Waterville does
Waterville Police Department runs the Waterville Police Regional Communication Center, which takes non-emergency calls for the region alongside the department's own patrol and investigative work
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. official City of Waterville Patrol Officer posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 11 May 2026.
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 Waterville 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. Waterville starts at $61,838, so $9,449 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Waterville Police Department officer make?
Waterville Police Department starts a new officer on $61,838 a year, about $29.73 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 official City of Waterville Patrol Officer posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Maine?
It ranks #16 of 19 agencies we have verified in Maine — 3 pay less, 15 pay more in the state — and #1,161 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,552 below, and against other municipal agencies $9,426 below.
Compare with another department
Put Waterville 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 ME
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Waterville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rockland Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $77,896 | +$16,058 | #459 |
| 2 | Biddeford Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $76,482 | +$14,643 | #494 |
| 3 | Westbrook Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $73,736 | +$11,898 | #604 |
| 4 | Falmouth Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $71,344 | +$9,506 | #704 |
| 5 | Bath Police Department | Municipal | 18 | $71,011 | +$9,173 | #721 |
| 6 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 23 | $70,628 | +$8,790 | #741 |
| 7 | Freeport Police Department | Municipal | 17 | $69,306 | +$7,467 | #798 |
| 8 | Windham Police Department | Municipal | 28 | $69,251 | +$7,412 | #802 |
| 9 | Bangor Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $69,181 | +$7,342 | #803 |
| 10 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 51 | $69,000 | +$7,162 | #815 |
| 11 | Augusta Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $67,371 | +$5,533 | #901 |
| 12 | Portland Police Department | Municipal | 131 | $65,874 | +$4,035 | #973 |
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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