Uncovering the Canadian City Where Cops Get Paid a Jaw-Dropping $122,088 a Year!

Are you thinking about becoming a police officer in Canada? If you’re trying to pick which city you want to serve and protect, there might be a financial factor that incentivizes you to choose this Canadian location over any other.

Delta, BC, boasts an unofficial title as the place where police officers are paid the highest in the country, and if we break it down, some other spots don’t even come close. To compare, we looked at two salaries: the first-year officer, essentially fresh out of training, and the constable with a few years of experience, about four, and broke down the numbers by city/force.

In Delta, the Probationary Constable, i.e., the first-year officer, earns $85,464, including training, while the First Class Constable, with about four years of experience, earns a whopping $122,088. This is the highest salary among all the cities and police force service we compared.

Interestingly, Surrey Police Service and Vancouver Police Department follow closely behind, where a First Class Constable earns $121,989 and $121,992, respectively. However, in Edmonton, the 1st Year Constable starts at $76,291, and after four years, the Constable earns $103,619. Edmonton police officers also enjoy additional perks like a yearly allowance of $597 for uniform tailoring or buying new boots and an extra $1.20 an hour for working the graveyard shifts.

In Calgary Police Service, the starting salary is lower at $73,460, but it rises to $113,015 after five years. In the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the 1st year Constable starts at $65,776, and Step Five Constable earns $106,576. The RCMP also provides an additional Annual Service Pay percentage, depending on the years worked, up to a maximum of 10.5% of the member’s maximum salary.

The Toronto Police Service and Service de police de la Ville de Montreal have relatively lower starting salaries at $73,142.64 and $58,336, respectively. However, the Service de police de la Ville de Montreal hiring salary includes a city bonus, which raises it to a respectable amount.

Coming in at a close second to Delta in terms of salary is the Ontario Provincial Police, with $74,617 as the starting salary and $102,630 for a 1st Class Constable. This will soon change, as the OPP has ratified a deal to see salaries increase by about 15% by 2026, potentially taking over Delta’s ranking as the highest-paid police force in Canada.

So, why do Delta police officers earn more than their counterparts in other Canadian cities? According to the City of Delta, competition for the best candidates is a major factor. The Delta Police Department’s collective agreement for 2022-2024 was signed in May 2022 and ratified by the Police Board, which includes wage increases comparable with other municipal police forces.

“The wage increases were 3.6% in 2022, 3% in 2023, and 3% in 2024. In December 2023, the Police Board amended the 2024 wage increase from 3% to 6% to ensure that DPD remains a competitive employer of the region's police officers,” explained the City of Delta.

The city also credits its high-paid police officers to the excellent performance and the general safety and security of the community. Through the work of the Delta Police Department, Delta has become one of the safest communities in Canada. Statistics Canada rates the city's Crime Severity Index (CSI) at 63.9, which is 39% lower than BC’s provincial average and 21% lower than the national average.

These high-paying police officer jobs don’t come cheap. According to the Canadian Job Bank, the median average wage is $48.08 per hour. The total costs for all police services in Canada were $19.7 billion in 2022/2023, a 6% jump compared to 2021/2022.

In terms of budget approval, the city spokesperson told Daily Hive that the contract settlements will be built into the City’s base budget for 2025, which will be determined prior to the budget approval later this year, depending on whether the collective agreement has been ratified by then.