El Paso Police Department entry pay

What El Paso says about itself

It is the mission of the El Paso Police Department to preserve life, to provide services with integrity and dedication, to enforce the law, and to work in partnership with the community to enhance the quality of life in the City of El Paso. We respect life and hold the preservation of life as our sacred duty; we revere the truth; we recognize that our basic responsibility is to enforce the law, resolving problems through the law rather than judging or punishing; and we honour our police powers, understanding that they are derived from the people we serve.

What El Paso does

The El Paso Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency for El Paso, Texas, with more than 1,000 sworn officers. Recruits complete a 36-week training academy covering criminal law, investigation, defensive tactics, vehicle operations and firearms, using CrossFit as its strength and conditioning method, and finish by sitting the TCOLE state licensing examination. Officers must complete at least 45 college credit hours within their first three years, and may apply for promotion to detective after four years.

Where the figure comes from

Checked 18 August 2026. El Paso Police Department recruiting, Salary — pay schedule effective 1 September 2025 — open the source document
The department publishes one schedule for every rank, effective 1 September 2025. A RECRUIT in the 36-week academy is paid $24.57 an hour, which the schedule itself annualises to $51,105.60; on graduating and being sworn in, the officer moves to the POLICE OFFICER class at $56,790, so the entry figure is the rate on being sworn rather than the academy rate. That class covers the first four years and runs to a maximum of $65,742, with an automatic advance one level each year on the officer's anniversary date. Beyond it the schedule reads $69,029 to $79,910 for Advanced Officer or Detective at five to eight years and $84,025 to $98,420 for Senior Officer at nine to eighteen. NO PRIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED: a high school diploma or GED plus six months of work involving public contact will qualify, or two years of honourable full-time military service, and the academy leads to the TCOLE licensing examination. A separate LATERAL schedule starting at $65,742 for three to four years of service is EXCLUDED, since it is open only to officers who are already certified. Excluded as add-ons: TCOLE proficiency pay of $83.33 a month at intermediate, $125.00 advanced and $166.66 master; education pay of $75.00 a month for an associate degree, $200.00 for a bachelor's and $250.00 for a master's; the 6% shift differential for evenings and weekends; 7% for field training officers; motorcycle hazard pay of $150.00 a fortnight; and $50.00 a month for the Special Operations Group.
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 El Paso 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 El Paso Police Department officer make?

El Paso Police Department starts a new officer on $56,790 a year, about $27.30 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 El Paso Police Department recruiting, Salary — pay schedule effective 1 September 2025.

Is that good pay for a police officer in Texas?

It ranks #128 of 151 agencies we have verified in Texas — 23 pay less, 127 pay more in the state — and #1,761 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,895 below, and against other municipal agencies $11,350 below.

The agencies either side of it