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Houston 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.
Houston Police Department starts at $78,452 a year — about $37.72 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,767 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,312 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX run about 1% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $79,543 would somewhere at average prices — $1,091 more than the headline figure. 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 isHouston Police Department reported 5,320 sworn officers and 883 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.2 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 2,413,559.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 Houston says about itself
The mission of the Houston Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Houston by working cooperatively with the public and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe environment.
What Houston does
Houston Police Department works with the public to prevent crime, enforce law, preserve peace and provide a safe environment. The employer describes more than 5,400 officers serving over two million Houston residents across patrol and numerous specialized divisions.
Shifts at Houston
The Department's own recruiting FAQ answers it directly: "Because patrol operates 24 hours a day seven days a week to serve the community, Officers should expect to work either day, evening, or night shifts depending on staffing needs. Most patrol officers begin their careers working EIGHT HOUR OR TEN HOUR SHIFTS, although schedules may vary depending on the patrol division and operations." Leave is managed division by division against a limited number of vacation slots on a first-come basis, and when the slots are gone an officer can ask another to work for them under the Strategic Officer Staffing Program. New officers are held in patrol for three years, and are not eligible to request days off or vacation until assigned to a permanent patrol station, typically twelve months after hire.
Eights or tens, days, evenings or nights, and which one depends on the division you land in - so the first thing a Houston officer needs is a calendar that can hold whichever shape their station runs. BlueShifts takes the pattern once and fills the year, and the extra jobs that follow the three-year patrol commitment sit on the same screen as the roster.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. employer-controlled City of Houston NEOGOV Police Trainee posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 6 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.
How this level compares
Where Houston 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. Houston starts at $78,452, so $10,312 above the municipal 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 Houston Police Department officer make?
Houston Police Department starts a new officer on $78,452 a year, about $37.72 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 employer-controlled City of Houston NEOGOV Police Trainee posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Texas?
It ranks #44 of 151 agencies we have verified in Texas — 107 pay less, 43 pay more in the state — and #541 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,767 above, and against other municipal agencies $10,312 above.
What shifts do Houston Police Department officers work?
The Department's own recruiting FAQ answers it directly: "Because patrol operates 24 hours a day seven days a week to serve the community, Officers should expect to work either day, evening, or night shifts depending on staffing needs. Most patrol officers begin their careers working EIGHT HOUR OR TEN HOUR SHIFTS, although schedules may vary depending on the patrol division and operations." Leave is managed division by division against a limited number of vacation slots on a first-come basis, and when the slots are gone an officer can ask another to work for them under the Strategic Officer Staffing Program. New officers are held in patrol for three years, and are not eligible to request days off or vacation until assigned to a permanent patrol station, typically twelve months after hire. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Houston 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 TX
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Houston | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allen Police Department | Municipal | 153 | $91,106 | +$12,654 | #241 |
| 2 | Frisco Police Department | Municipal | 270 | $90,750 | +$12,298 | #252 |
| 3 | Plano Police Department | Municipal | 400 | $90,729 | +$12,277 | #253 |
| 4 | Grand Prairie Police Department | Municipal | 287 | $90,000 | +$11,548 | #270 |
| 5 | Hurst Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $87,048 | +$8,596 | #322 |
| 6 | Lewisville Police Department | Municipal | 181 | $86,268 | +$7,816 | #335 |
| 7 | Coppell Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $84,968 | +$6,516 | #355 |
| 8 | Rockwall Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $84,448 | +$5,996 | #362 |
| 9 | Farmers Branch Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $84,440 | +$5,988 | #363 |
| 10 | The Colony Police Department | Municipal | 86 | $84,082 | +$5,630 | #371 |
| 11 | Baytown Police Department | Municipal | 172 | $84,049 | +$5,597 | #372 |
| 12 | McKinney Police Department | Municipal | 248 | $83,992 | +$5,540 | #374 |
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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