Home › Police pay › Georgia › Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Georgia Bureau of Investigation 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.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation starts at $64,977 a year — about $31.24 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,413 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $21 below the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Georgia run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $67,478 would somewhere at average prices — $2,501 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 89 against a national average of 100, where goods are 99. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single metro 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 isGeorgia Bureau of Investigation reported 338 sworn officers and 536 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025.No rate is shown: this agency does not police a single population the FBI publishes a figure for. 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 Georgia Bureau of Investigation says about itself
The Mission of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is to provide the highest quality investigative, scientific, and information services and resources to the criminal justice community and others as authorized by law.
What Georgia Bureau of Investigation does
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is Georgia's statewide investigative law-enforcement agency. GBI Special Agents conduct criminal investigations throughout Georgia and serve as state peace officers.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 9 August 2026. Georgia Bureau of Investigation — GBI Special Agent recruiting page — open the source document
$64,976.51. Current official recruiting page, checked 9 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 Georgia Bureau of Investigation 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. Georgia Bureau of Investigation starts at $64,977, so $21 below the state middle.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer make?
Georgia Bureau of Investigation starts a new officer on $64,977 a year, about $31.24 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 Georgia Bureau of Investigation — GBI Special Agent recruiting page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #2 of 25 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 23 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #1,027 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,413 below, and against other state agencies $21 below.
Compare with another department
Put Georgia Bureau of Investigation 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 GA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Georgia | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandy Springs Police Department | Municipal | 149 | $71,686 | +$6,710 | #687 |
| 3 | Georgia State Patrol | State | — | $63,684 | −$1,293 | #1,072 |
| 4 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | −$1,537 | #1,086 |
| 5 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | −$2,514 | #1,135 |
| 6 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | −$2,988 | #1,156 |
| 7 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | −$3,877 | #1,190 |
| 8 | Atlanta Police Department | Municipal | 1,817 | $60,987 | −$3,990 | #1,196 |
| 9 | Snellville Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $60,905 | −$4,072 | #1,199 |
| 10 | Fulton County Sheriff's Office | County | 349 | $60,000 | −$4,977 | #1,240 |
| 11 | Fulton County Police Department | Municipal | 349 | $60,000 | −$4,977 | #1,249 |
| 12 | Athens-Clarke County Police Department | Municipal | 235 | $59,287 | −$5,690 | #1,275 |
| 13 | DeKalb County Sheriff's Office | County | 306 | $57,919 | −$7,058 | #1,327 |
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.
Scan to install
