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Georgia State Patrol 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 State Patrol starts at $63,684 a year — about $30.62 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,706 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,314 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 $66,136 would somewhere at average prices — $2,452 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.
What Georgia State Patrol says about itself
The Georgia State Patrol is divided into 52 patrol posts within nine geographic troops and six specialized units.
What Georgia State Patrol does
The Georgia State Patrol is divided into 52 patrol posts within nine geographic troops, plus specialised units including Criminal Interdiction, Implied Consent, a Motorcycle Unit, a Crime Suppression Unit, Specialized Collision Reconstruction, SWAT, a dive team and a regional K-9 task force.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Georgia Department of Public Safety — GSP Trooper FAQ — open the source document
$63,684. Current official information 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 Georgia State Patrol 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 State Patrol starts at $63,684, so $1,314 below the state middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Georgia State Patrol officer make?
Georgia State Patrol starts a new officer on $63,684 a year, about $30.62 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 Department of Public Safety — GSP Trooper FAQ.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?
It ranks #3 of 25 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 22 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #1,072 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,706 below, and against other state agencies $1,314 below.
Compare with another department
Put Georgia State Patrol 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 | +$8,002 | #687 |
| 2 | Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State | 338 | $64,977 | +$1,293 | #1,027 |
| 4 | South Fulton Police Department | Municipal | 213 | $63,440 | −$244 | #1,086 |
| 5 | Roswell Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $62,462 | −$1,222 | #1,135 |
| 6 | Savannah Police Department | Municipal | 425 | $61,989 | −$1,695 | #1,156 |
| 7 | Alpharetta Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $61,100 | −$2,584 | #1,190 |
| 8 | Atlanta Police Department | Municipal | 1,817 | $60,987 | −$2,697 | #1,196 |
| 9 | Snellville Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $60,905 | −$2,779 | #1,199 |
| 10 | Fulton County Sheriff's Office | County | 349 | $60,000 | −$3,684 | #1,240 |
| 11 | Fulton County Police Department | Municipal | 349 | $60,000 | −$3,684 | #1,249 |
| 12 | Athens-Clarke County Police Department | Municipal | 235 | $59,287 | −$4,397 | #1,275 |
| 13 | DeKalb County Sheriff's Office | County | 306 | $57,919 | −$5,765 | #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.
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