Police officer salary in Puerto Rico 2026

The full scale, rank by rank

A sworn Puerto Rico Police officer starts at $43,354 a year. A Cadet, while at the academy, earns $27,558. And at the other end of the ladder, a Colonel reaches $155,335.

These are the annual figures from the First Phase of the New Salary Scale, under Special Order OS-1-3-3 signed by the Superintendent. Each rank has three points: the base is what you earn on entering the rank, and the mid and max points are progression within that same rank, meaning you move up without needing a promotion.

• Cadet, $27,558 (during the academy)
• Officer (Agente), base $43,354 · mid $54,192 · max $65,031
• Sergeant, base $47,689 · mid $59,611 · max $71,534
• Second Lieutenant, base $52,458 · mid $65,573 · max $78,687
• First Lieutenant, base $57,704 · mid $72,130 · max $86,556
• Captain, base $63,474 · mid $79,343 · max $95,212
• Inspector, base $69,822 · mid $87,277 · max $104,733
• Commander, base $73,640 · mid $98,187 · max $122,734
• Lieutenant Colonel, base $82,845 · mid $110,460 · max $138,076
• Colonel, base $93,201 · mid $124,268 · max $155,335

How much it went up

The jump is real and it helps to see the old number beside it. An Agente earned $2,860 a month, that is $34,320 a year; under the new scale it starts at $3,612.84 monthly, which is the $43,354. That is about $9,000 more a year just for entering the same position.

The government announced the revision effective July 1, 2026 and identified $28 million in the fiscal year 2027 budget to make it viable. It was the first revision of the police pay structure in roughly ten years, which is why the jump feels so large at the top ranks: at Colonel the difference is around $23,000 a year.

Watch out for a common confusion: when the press covered the announcement it published monthly ranges, «$7,766.78 to $10,355.71» for Colonel, for example. Those two figures are the base and mid points of the annual scale ($93,201 and $124,268). The rank's maximum sits above that. If you are comparing a news article against this table, that is why they do not match.

How the pay goes up

There are two ways and they are not the same. The first is moving within your rank, from base toward mid and max, an Agente who reaches the top of the rank earns $65,031, more than a Sergeant who was just promoted ($47,689). Seniority within the rank pays.

The second is promotion. Promotions come through internal announcements and exams: the Police publishes promotion announcements to Sergeant, to Captain, and from Inspector to Colonel on its portal. Article 12 of Act 83-2025 tasks the Superintendent with establishing, by internal regulation, both the ranks and the promotion procedures.

There is also one specific rule almost nobody knows: a Police member who holds an Associate Superintendent position for twelve months or more without interruption returns, on leaving those duties, to their permanent rank and is granted a raise equal to ten percent of their base salary, the law adds «if the fiscal situation allows it».

Overtime: time and a half, within 45 days

Act 83-2025 is explicit: Police members who work beyond the established shift are entitled to be paid those hours at time and a half. Anyone who prefers may opt to substitute the cash payment for its equivalent in compensatory time.

The detail that moves the most money is the deadline: the law provides that overtime payment must be made within a maximum term of forty-five days. And the detail that costs the most money is the procedure: the Superintendent determines by regulation how overtime is authorized and justified, and any request that does not meet all the regulation's requirements is null and will not be paid. Documenting overtime properly is not bureaucracy; it is the difference between collecting it or not.

What gets deducted (and why it favors you)

Here is a difference in the officer's favor that is almost never mentioned when discussing pay. Under Act 106-2017, every public servant must contribute a minimum of 8.5% of monthly pay to their retirement account. For members of the Police rank system, the law itself sets that mandatory contribution at 2.3%.

In paycheck terms, that means an officer has considerably less deducted for retirement than a colleague at another agency with the same gross salary. The tradeoff is the part to understand well: a smaller contribution means less money accumulating in your account, and under Plan 106 the government matches nothing. The law allows additional voluntary contributions, and for an officer that decision carries more weight than for anyone else.

There is an exception within the exception: for rank-system members with fewer than ten years left before mandatory retirement under Act 447 of 1951, the reduction to 2.3% applies optionally; they have to state that they want it.

Municipal, federal and reserve officers

This scale is the Puerto Rico Police's, the state force. Municipal police departments are separate bodies: each municipality is its own employer and publishes its base salary in its own announcement, so there is no single figure; you have to check the announcement of the municipality you are interested in. And federal Police Officer positions on the island, such as at Fort Buchanan or the VA, are paid on the GS scale and publish their salary range in each USAJOBS posting.

Reserve officers are their own case. Act 83-2025 allows a retiree under Act 447 or another Puerto Rico retirement system to work for the Police as a reservist, subject to medical certification, without reducing their pension. The Superintendent sets the time and pay, which cannot exceed the full eight-hour day nor the maximum salary of a full-time employee doing the same work.