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Wichita 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.
Wichita Police Department starts at $70,970 a year — about $34.12 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,580 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $295 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wichita, KS run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $79,790 would somewhere at average prices — $8,820 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 66 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isWichita Police Department reported 663 sworn officers and 200 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 401,730.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.
About Wichita
The Wichita Police Department serves more than 400,000 residents across approximately 163 square miles. Its mission is working in partnership with the community to deliver exceptional police services with professionalism and fairness. The department identifies integrity, trust, ethical conduct, professionalism and teamwork as its core values and recruits zero-experience Police Recruits through its academy process
Where the figure comes from
Checked 9 August 2026. City of Wichita Police Department official r — open the source document
Their source is effective 20 December 2025.
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 Wichita 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. Wichita starts at $70,970, so $317 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Wichita Police Department officer make?
Wichita Police Department starts a new officer on $70,970 a year, about $34.12 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 Wichita Police Department official r.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Kansas?
It ranks #1 of 13 agencies we have verified in Kansas — the highest in the state in the state — and #724 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,580 above, and against other municipal agencies $295 below.
Compare with another department
Put Wichita 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 KS
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Wichita | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Kansas Highway Patrol | State | 467 | $68,182 | −$2,787 | #851 |
| 3 | Lenexa Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $66,013 | −$4,957 | #965 |
| 4 | Olathe Police Department | Municipal | 210 | $65,050 | −$5,920 | #1,018 |
| 5 | University of Kansas Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 28 | $60,180 | −$10,790 | #1,229 |
| 6 | Saline County Sheriff's Office | County | 41 | $57,866 | −$13,104 | #1,333 |
| 7 | Salina Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $57,741 | −$13,229 | #1,343 |
| 8 | Garden City Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $56,451 | −$14,518 | #1,385 |
| 9 | Junction City Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $53,747 | −$17,222 | #1,480 |
| 10 | Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks — Law Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,414 | −$17,555 | #1,488 |
| 11 | Wichita State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 28 | $49,254 | −$21,715 | #1,583 |
| 12 | Arkansas City Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $44,491 | −$26,478 | #1,636 |
| 13 | Kansas State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $42,494 | −$28,475 | #1,647 |
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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