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Police officer salary

What a brand-new officer earns on day one. The municipal departments — city, town and township police alike — that start new officers highest, ranked. Base pay only: no overtime, no shift differential, no specialty or education pay. Every figure comes from an official source.

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.

1,046agencies verifiedacross all 50 states and DC

Lowest$35,006
Middle$71,264
Highest$163,619

Starting salary a year, base pay only. Every figure comes from an official source.

173,845sworn officersFBI-reported, 923 agencies

Active is the number of sworn officers an agency reported to the FBI for 2025. Authorized is the establishment its own staffing document funds. Where both are known, the badge shows active first.

Highest starting pay at each level

Municipalyou are here
Countyall 416 →
Special jurisdictionall 69 →
Stateall 143 →
Federalall 5 →
Territoryall 9 →
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Showing 25 of 1,046 See the statistics →

Figures checked between 8 August 2026 and 23 August 2026. Every figure comes from an official source — the employer's own published pay information. Overtime, bonuses, education incentives, shift differentials, locality pay and lateral rates are excluded — this is base salary only, so most officers earn more than the figure shown. Where an agency publishes both an academy rate and a post-academy rate, the post-academy rate is used. Pay is not comparable between places without cost of living: $55,000 in Honolulu and $55,000 in rural Virginia are not the same offer. More agencies are added as each one is verified, so an agency missing here has not been checked yet rather than found to pay less.

Common questions

How much do police officers make?

On this list of verified agencies, entry pay runs from $35,006 to $163,619 a year, with a median of $71,287. That is base salary only — overtime, court time, shift differentials and off-duty work are excluded, so most officers earn more than the figure shown.

Which state pays the most?

Of the 47 states where we have verified five or more agencies, CA has the highest median at $101,173, and LA the lowest at $42,576 — a gap of $58,597 a year for recognisably the same job.

Which agency pays the most to start?

Santa Clara Police Department in CA at $163,619. The lowest on this list is Louisiana State Archives Police at $35,006.

Where do these figures come from?

Every one comes from the employer's own published source — a class specification, a civil service posting or an agency careers page — not from a salary estimate site. Each row links to the document it came from.

Is this every agency in the country?

No. These are the highest-paying agencies we have verified, 1,046 of them so far, not a random sample. An agency missing here has not been checked yet rather than found to pay less, and the medians on this page therefore sit above a true national average.

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