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Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers entry pay
What this agency pays a new officer to start, and how that compares with the rest of the country.
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.
Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers starts at $56,701 a year — about $27.26 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,689 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $8,297 below the median for state agencies.
What Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers says about itself
Wildlife Managers are field-oriented commissioned officers whose duties include conserving and protecting Arizona's wildlife resources for generations to come. They are the Department's main enforcement officers and are required to carry and use firearms.
What Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers does
Arizona Game and Fish Wildlife Managers are the department's field game wardens. The department maintains 74 Wildlife Managers assigned through six regional offices, with officers performing wildlife-management and law-enforcement responsibilities across Arizona.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Arizona Game and Fish Department — Wildlife Manager Duties and Compensation — open the source document
$56,701. Current official compensation page verified 8 August 2026
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 Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.
| Level | Lowest | Median | Highest | Agencies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| Federal | $70,477 | $73,502 | $86,530 | 5 |
| Territory | $16,640 | $28,236 | $43,354 | 9 |
Federal agencies pay the most to start
The middle federal agency starts at $73,502 — about $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers starts at $56,701, so $8,297 below the state middle.
How it ranks
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Common questions
How much does a Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers officer make?
Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers starts a new officer on $56,701 a year, about $27.26 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 Arizona Game and Fish Department — Wildlife Manager Duties and Compensation.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Arizona?
It ranks #26 of 26 agencies we have verified in Arizona — 0 pay less, 25 pay more in the state — and #1,377 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,689 below, and against other state agencies $8,297 below.
Compare with another department
Put Arizona Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Wildlife Managers side by side with any other agency on the site — the two salaries, what each is worth once local prices are counted, and which comes out ahead.
The agencies either side of it
Other agencies in AZ
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Arizona | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goodyear Police Department | Municipal | 174 | $77,147 | +$20,446 | #475 |
| 2 | Phoenix Police Department | Municipal | 2,490 | $75,847 | +$19,146 | #526 |
| 3 | Queen Creek Police Department | Municipal | 132 | $74,693 | +$17,992 | #569 |
| 4 | Chandler Police Department | Municipal | 348 | $74,610 | +$17,909 | #573 |
| 5 | Mesa Police Department | Municipal | 885 | $73,972 | +$17,271 | #596 |
| 6 | Casa Grande Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $72,860 | +$16,159 | #632 |
| 7 | El Mirage Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $71,573 | +$14,872 | #693 |
| 8 | Maricopa Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $71,074 | +$14,373 | #719 |
| 9 | Flagstaff Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $68,203 | +$11,502 | #850 |
| 10 | Navajo County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $67,496 | +$10,795 | #892 |
| 11 | Bullhead City Police Department | Municipal | 66 | $67,038 | +$10,337 | #914 |
| 12 | Show Low Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $66,581 | +$9,880 | #943 |
Base pay is only part of the year
Whatever the figure above, the rotation is what decides your year — which weekends you lose, when the changeovers land, what you can plan around. Save yours once and BlueShifts shows it a year ahead, with the off-duty jobs you take and what each one paid.
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