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Baton Rouge Police Department 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.
Baton Rouge Police Department starts at $58,000 a year — about $27.88 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,685 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,140 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Baton Rouge, LA run about 9% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $63,891 would somewhere at average prices — $5,891 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 71 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for this metropolitan area, from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024. The salary above is what the employer publishes; this line is our arithmetic on it, and nothing on this site is ranked on it.
How big the department isBaton Rouge Police Department reported 544 sworn officers and 147 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 219,587.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. Reporting to the FBI is voluntary, so a count can reflect a partial return as easily as a small agency, and the FBI asks that agencies not be compared on staffing. Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, 2025.
What Baton Rouge says about itself
Our vision for the Baton Rouge Police Department is to be one with the community, single-minded in purpose, principle, and resolve in advancing public safety. Our mission of the Baton Rouge Police Department is to serve with the Baton Rouge community to prevent crime and to promote the safety and well-being of all.
What Baton Rouge does
BRPD is the City of Baton Rouge municipal police department. The city describes its officers as providing patrol and public-safety services and responding to community calls for service.
Shifts at Baton Rouge
Louisiana Revised Statute 33:2213 authorises this department by name: "The Baton Rouge Police Department is authorized to work up to, but not more than, seven twelve hour shifts in a fourteen day work cycle." Overtime across such a cycle is worked out by dividing the total hours by the number of weeks in the cycle and paying on the amount by which that average exceeds forty.
The agency publishes the shift length but not a named cycle. These are the 12-hour rotations departments most often build on it: Pitman, 4 on, 4 off, DuPont, Panama, 3-4-4-3.
Seven twelves in fourteen days is a ceiling, not a pattern - which days they fall on is set locally and can move. BlueShifts holds whatever arrangement your shift actually runs and counts the hours against the fourteen-day cycle as they are worked.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City-Parish announcement approving BRPD starting-officer pay — open the source document
Their source is effective 8 April 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.
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How this level compares
Where Baton Rouge 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 | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| 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 $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Baton Rouge starts at $58,000, so $10,140 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Baton Rouge Police Department officer make?
Baton Rouge Police Department starts a new officer on $58,000 a year, about $27.88 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 City-Parish announcement approving BRPD starting-officer pay.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Louisiana?
It ranks #2 of 28 agencies we have verified in Louisiana — 26 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #1,677 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,685 below, and against other municipal agencies $10,140 below.
What shifts do Baton Rouge Police Department officers work?
Louisiana Revised Statute 33:2213 authorises this department by name: "The Baton Rouge Police Department is authorized to work up to, but not more than, seven twelve hour shifts in a fourteen day work cycle." Overtime across such a cycle is worked out by dividing the total hours by the number of weeks in the cycle and paying on the amount by which that average exceeds forty. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Baton Rouge Police Department 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 LA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Baton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office | County | 916 | $58,200 | +$200 | #1,664 |
| 3 | Louisiana State Police | State | 1,192 | $57,680 | −$320 | #1,719 |
| 4 | Kenner Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $54,700 | −$3,300 | #1,877 |
| 5 | New Orleans Police Department | Municipal | 906 | $54,421 | −$3,579 | #1,894 |
| 6 | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,997 | −$4,003 | #1,917 |
| 7 | Gretna Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $49,118 | −$8,882 | #2,114 |
| 8 | Lake Charles Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $48,500 | −$9,500 | #2,129 |
| 9 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $48,271 | −$9,729 | #2,138 |
| 10 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $45,000 | −$13,000 | #2,207 |
| 11 | Covington Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $43,672 | −$14,328 | #2,227 |
| 12 | Sulphur Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $43,553 | −$14,447 | #2,228 |
| 13 | Bossier City Police Department | Municipal | 200 | $42,576 | −$15,424 | #2,237 |
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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