About this reference

Official pay schedules.
Sources you can check.

Police Pay Scales is an independent reference for comparing published base pay at city police departments, county agencies and state police or highway patrol agencies. It is not affiliated with any government agency.

Where the numbers come from

Every department figure comes from an official source: a city or state pay plan, a published salary schedule, a civil service job posting, a union contract posted by the employer, or the agency’s own recruiting page. Each department page links to that source and gives the date it was last checked.

How pay is converted to a year

Agencies publish pay in different units. Monthly rates are multiplied by 12. Biweekly rates are multiplied by 26. Hourly rates are multiplied by the hours the agency states for a full-time year, or by 2,080 hours when no figure is stated. Each step table shows the published rate next to the annual figure so you can check the math.

What “top step” and “years to top” mean

Top step is the highest base rate on the officer schedule, before overtime, longevity, shift or education pay. Years to top counts the years the schedule takes to reach that step when the source says so. Promotions to corporal, sergeant or higher ranks are shown separately where the source lists them.

Limited data and missing values

Some agencies publish only part of their pay plan. Those departments carry a “Limited data” label that lists what is missing. A missing amount is shown as “Not in our data”; it never means zero pay. State medians use published departments only and show how many departments they cover.

Federal wage estimates

State pages also show the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 estimate for police and sheriff’s patrol officers. That survey covers every agency and experience level, so it appears in its own box and is never mixed into department figures.

Corrections

Spot a wrong number? Email [email protected] with the page and the official source, and it will be checked against the agency’s schedule.