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Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources Police 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.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources Police starts at $38,863 a year — about $18.68 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $29,527 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $26,135 below the median for state agencies.
About Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources
DNREC's Delaware Natural Resources Police is a fully sworn police department with statewide authority to enforce criminal law, hunting, fishing, boating and environmental laws and regulations, serving Delawareans on waterways and on land both public and private. It has three units: Environmental Crimes, Fish and Wildlife, and State Park.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 17 August 2026. Delaware DHR, FY26 40-hour pay table, Pay Grade 9 — open the source document
Pay Grade 9 hiring rate, effective 13 July 2025. Natural Resources Police Officer I is the first SWORN class - a Trainee (Pay Grade 7, $34,322) is not yet sworn.
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 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources 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. Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources starts at $38,863, so $26,135 below the state middle.
How it ranks
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Common questions
How much does a Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources Police officer make?
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources Police starts a new officer on $38,863 a year, about $18.68 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 Delaware DHR, FY26 40-hour pay table, Pay Grade 9.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Delaware?
It ranks #14 of 14 agencies we have verified in Delaware — 0 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #1,659 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $29,527 below, and against other state agencies $26,135 below.
Compare with another department
Put Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control — Natural Resources Police 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 DE
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Delaware | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware State Police | State | 783 | $91,265 | +$52,402 | #189 |
| 2 | New Castle City Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,338 | +$36,475 | #544 |
| 3 | University of Delaware Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 48 | $74,679 | +$35,816 | #570 |
| 4 | Middletown Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $74,550 | +$35,687 | #576 |
| 5 | New Castle County Police | County | 414 | $74,453 | +$35,590 | #582 |
| 6 | Dover Police Department | Municipal | 101 | $72,000 | +$33,137 | #668 |
| 7 | Newark Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $70,000 | +$31,137 | #767 |
| 8 | Selbyville Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $68,788 | +$29,925 | #824 |
| 9 | Seaford Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $68,474 | +$29,611 | #838 |
| 10 | Milford Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $67,971 | +$29,108 | #864 |
| 11 | Wilmington Police Department | Municipal | 279 | $67,600 | +$28,737 | #888 |
| 12 | Cheswold Police Department | Municipal | 4 | $57,500 | +$18,637 | #1,359 |
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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