Amtrak Police Department entry pay

About Amtrak

The Amtrak Police Department is the national police force of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. It is HEADQUARTERED IN WASHINGTON, D.C. — at Union Station, with its administrative offices at 900 2nd Street NE — and fields 495 authorized sworn and civilian positions at over 30 locations in 46 STATES, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces, covering more than 21,400 miles of route and over 500 destinations. Most of its officers are stationed on the Northeast Corridor. Assignments are available across the country and you apply to the location you want; the headquarters figure below is not where the job is. ITS PAY TABLE COVERS NINETEEN OF THOSE LOCATIONS AND ITS OWN REPORTS NAME MORE: field offices at New Haven and New London, Connecticut, at Springfield, Massachusetts, and at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and posts at Harrisburg and Kansas City, none of which appear in any published band. A posting can be real and have no rate attached to it. ITS LEGAL AUTHORITY IS ASSEMBLED STATE BY STATE, AND THE PAPERWORK SHOWS IT. Amtrak officers are commissioned under state railroad police laws rather than by one national warrant — typically in the state where they live or where they will work. Because of that, the FBI has issued Amtrak not one originating agency identifier but MANY: at least 26 are on record, including PAAMX02 for the Philadelphia records room, DE0021500 in New Castle County, Delaware, ORAMX019E in Oregon, and TWENTY-THREE SEPARATE NEW YORK CODES — one for each county the line runs through, from Albany and Erie to Westchester and Wayne. No other agency on this site is identified that way, and it is the clearest illustration of what railroad policing actually is: a single department that has to be separately recognised in every jurisdiction it enters. PAY IS SET BY LOCALITY, NOT BY ONE NATIONAL RATE. The full table of published bands is on this page. The figure at the top is the Washington DC rate because that is where the department is headquartered — it is not what you would earn everywhere. Each band rises the same way: a step one year past probation, a five-year step, and a top step. The work is unlike municipal patrol in one respect the department names itself: part of its beat is always moving, and officers ride the trains between locations. Alongside patrol it runs a Special Operations unit, K-9 explosives detection teams, and the National Communications Center, which dispatches officers nationwide and takes the APD11 text-a-tip line. THE K-9 PROGRAMME IS LARGER THAN THE PHRASE SUGGESTS: 55 explosive-detection teams across the country plus two narcotics teams, and Amtrak states it leads the rail industry in deploying personal-detection dogs. The department is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, completing four-year reaccreditation in 2023 and again in 2024. Most officers are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers. Officers work a 4/10 schedule and hold free rail travel privileges on Amtrak nationwide.

Where the officers are

EVERY AMTRAK ROUTE, AND WHAT EACH POSTING PAYS

• Division responsible for the state
• New England[Boston]
• New York[New York]
• Mid-Atlantic North[Philadelphia]
• Mid-Atlantic South[Washington]
• Central[Chicago]
• Western[Chicago]
• No Amtrak route
• Entry pay at a duty station
• $80,000 and over
• $70,000 – $79,999
• $60,000 – $69,999
• Field office, no published rate

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Entry pay by duty station

This agency does not have one starting salary. It publishes 8 of them, from $66,239 to $91,558 — a 38% difference for the same job, which the employer attributes to cost of living. Every duty station the employer's own postings name is listed below with the band that sets its pay. Some bands cover two states: Seattle and Portland share a rate, as do Battle Creek and New Orleans. A posting outside these 19 stations has no published rate. The color on each row is the police division responsible for that station, in the same six colors the map above shades the states with — nothing to do with the money.

Duty station	Area of responsibility	Officers	Pay band	Entry	After 1 yr	5-yr step	Top step
Los Angeles, CAWestern Divisionmajor maintenance base · 7th busiest station	Southern California — Pacific Surfliner and the Southwest Chief terminus	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Oakland / Martinez, CAWestern Divisionmajor maintenance base (Oakland)	Bay Area — Capitol Corridor, Coast Starlight, California Zephyr terminus	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Sacramento, CAWestern Division	Sacramento Valley — Capitol Corridor and Gold Runner	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Fresno, CAWestern Division	San Joaquin Valley — Gold Runner	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Bakersfield, CAWestern Division	Southern San Joaquin Valley — Gold Runner terminus	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Santa Barbara, CAWestern Division	Central Coast — Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
San Jose, CAWestern Division	South Bay — Capitol Corridor terminus and Coast Starlight	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
San Diego, CAWestern Division	San Diego County — Pacific Surfliner southern terminus	46	California	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Seattle, WAWestern Divisionmajor maintenance base	Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest — Cascades, Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder's western terminus	46	Seattle and Portland	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
Portland, ORWestern Division	Oregon and south-west Washington — Cascades and Coast Starlight	46	Seattle and Portland	$91,558	$101,731	$122,544	$150,295
New York, NYNew York Divisionmajor maintenance base · busiest station	New York Division — the busiest station in the system and the Northeast Corridor's center	99	New York	$74,641	$82,935	$99,902	$122,525
Chicago, ILCentral Divisionmajor maintenance base · 4th busiest station	Central Division — the national hub where the western and eastern long-distance networks meet	62	Chicago	$72,683	$80,759	$97,281	$119,311
Boston, MANew England Divisionmajor maintenance base · 5th busiest station	New England Division — the Northeast Corridor's northern terminus and the Downeaster	57	New Englandaverage	$72,106	$80,117	$96,508	$118,363
Philadelphia, PAMid-Atlantic North Division3rd busiest station	Mid-Atlantic North — the Northeast Corridor and the Keystone and Harrisburg lines	82	Philadelphia	$70,613	$78,458	$94,510	$115,912
Wilmington, DEMid-Atlantic North Divisionheavy maintenance facility	Delaware — Northeast Corridor, and Amtrak's heavy maintenance shops	82	Philadelphia	$70,613	$78,458	$94,510	$115,912
Washington, DCMid-Atlantic South Divisionmajor maintenance base · 2nd busiest station	Mid-Atlantic South — headquarters, Union Station, and the southern end of the Northeast Corridor	68	Washington, DCheadline	$70,429	$78,255	$94,265	$115,611
Baltimore, MDMid-Atlantic South Division6th busiest station	Maryland — Northeast Corridor and the B&P Tunnel corridor	68	Washington, DC	$70,429	$78,255	$94,265	$115,611
Battle Creek, MICentral Division	Michigan — the Wolverine, Blue Water and Pere Marquette, on Amtrak's own Michigan Line	62	Battle Creek, MI and New Orleans	$66,239	$73,599	$88,656	$108,733
New Orleans, LACentral Divisionmajor maintenance base	the Gulf — City of New Orleans, Crescent, Sunset Limited and the new Mardi Gras Service	62	Battle Creek, MI and New Orleans	$66,239	$73,599	$88,656	$108,733

How busy a division is does not follow how big it is. Amtrak logged 550,193 calls for service across the six divisions in 2024. Set against the officer counts in the table, that is about 1,615 calls per officer a year in Mid-Atlantic North against 1,069 in Mid-Atlantic South — two divisions that share the Northeast Corridor, half again apart. All six: Mid-Atlantic North 1,615 · Western 1,439 · New York 1,421 · New England 1,254 · Central 1,075 · Mid-Atlantic South 1,069. The calls and the staffing are both Amtrak’s own published figures; dividing one by the other is our arithmetic on them, and nothing on this site is ranked on it.

Amtrak’s rotation, in BlueShifts

Where the figure comes from

Checked 20 August 2026. Amtrak Police Department — Careers, Police Officer Salary table (rate as of April 2026) — open the source document
Amtrak Police Department's own careers page, which publishes a full locality pay table: Entry (requires police academy) by locality — Washington DC $70,429 · Philadelphia $70,613 · New England $72,106 · Chicago $72,683 · New York $74,641 · California and Seattle/Portland $91,558 · Battle Creek MI and New Orleans LA $66,239. The Washington DC rate is published here because Washington is where the department is headquartered; the whole table is recorded in maint and belongs in the page copy. No prior service is required, and this is not a lateral rate: the minimum qualifications are 21 years of age, US citizenship, a high school diploma or GED, a driver's license and the ability to obtain a railroad police commission in the state of assignment — no prior service. Prior experience is priced separately (Amtrak recognises up to five years), and unusually LATERALS START AT 95% of rate for their first year, until the anniversary of their railroad commission.
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 Amtrak sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.

How it ranks

Common questions

How much does a Amtrak Police Department officer make?

Amtrak Police Department starts a new officer on $70,429 a year, about $33.86 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 Amtrak Police Department — Careers, Police Officer Salary table (rate as of April 2026).

Is that good pay for a police officer in District of Columbia?

It ranks #3 of 4 agencies we have verified in District of Columbia — 1 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #750 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,039 above, and against other special jurisdiction agencies $10,234 above.

What shifts do Amtrak Police Department officers work?

Amtrak officers work a 4/10 schedule and hold free rail travel privileges on Amtrak nationwide. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.

The agencies either side of it