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Whittier 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.
Whittier Police Department starts at $102,600 a year — about $49.33 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $35,915 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $34,460 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in California run about 11% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $92,666 somewhere at average prices — $9,934 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 isWhittier Police Department reported 127 sworn officers and 50 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 85,082.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 Whittier says about itself
The Whittier Police Department is committed to provide community safety through quality service, committed employees and partnerships.
What Whittier does
The Whittier Police Department serves the city of Whittier, California, in south-east Los Angeles County, and also polices Santa Fe Springs under contract. Its officers are represented by the Whittier Police Officers Association, whose agreement puts uniformed patrol in both cities on a three-day twelve-and-a-half-hour week with one additional ten-hour day every twenty-eight days. The City's adopted salary resolution carries no sworn recruit or trainee classification beneath Police Officer.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. City of Whittier, Resolution No. 2026-30, Section 14B Police Standard Salary Schedule — Police Officer, Range 01, Step 1: 8,550 monthly, effective the first pay period beginning on or after 1 July 2026. — open the source document
$8,550 a month is the figure in the City's own adopted salary resolution and $102,600.00 is that rate times twelve, which is exact rather than an estimate. The six-step range runs 8,550 / 8,991 / 9,419 / 9,942 / 10,556 / 11,231 and the top is a ceiling. INDEPENDENTLY CONFIRMED ON A SECOND CITY DOCUMENT: the WPOA memorandum of understanding states the same table and the reason for it - "Effective the first payroll period commencing on or after July 1, 2026, the City shall increase the salary ranges for all classifications represented by the WPOA by nine percent (9 %)" - with Police Officer Step 1 at 8550. THE RECRUITING PAGE DISAGREES WITH THE ADOPTED RESOLUTION AND THE RESOLUTION WINS: the Department's own careers page advertises "Academy Recruit: up to $88,608" and "Police Officer Base: up to $113,232", both of them "up to" CEILINGS rather than steps, and the $113,232 does not reconcile with the adopted Step 6 of $11,231 a month, which is $134,772 a year. The recruiting page is stale marketing; the resolution is the pay. WHITTIER PRICES NO SWORN RECRUIT CLASS IN THE RESOLUTION: the classified index runs Police Dispatcher I, Police Forensic Specialist I, Police Officer 01, Police Services Assistant II, with no recruit or trainee class between them and none in the WPOA agreement either. THE FIGURE IS DATED BY THE RESOLUTION ITSELF.
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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Entry pay through 2028
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
How this level compares
Where Whittier 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. Whittier starts at $102,600, so $34,460 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Whittier Police Department officer make?
Whittier Police Department starts a new officer on $102,600 a year, about $49.33 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 Whittier, Resolution No. 2026-30, Section 14B Police Standard Salary Schedule — Police Officer, Range 01, Step 1: 8,550 monthly, effective the first pay period beginning on or after 1 July 2026..
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #98 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 180 pay less, 97 pay more in the state — and #105 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $35,915 above, and against other municipal agencies $34,460 above.
Compare with another department
Put Whittier 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 Whittier | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$61,019 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$46,843 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$45,342 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$41,403 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$40,496 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$38,424 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$37,140 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$36,365 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$35,661 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$29,794 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$29,663 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$29,436 | #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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