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Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division 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.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division starts at $66,000 a year — about $31.73 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,390 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,002 above the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Indiana run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,718 would somewhere at average prices — $4,718 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 74 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division says about itself
As the law enforcement division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, we concentrate on full time police work focused on community needs within natural resource laws and rules.
What Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division does
Indiana DNR's Law Enforcement Division employs 214 conservation officers in ten districts across the state. Conservation officers are uniformed law-enforcement officers who enforce state and federal statutes, make arrests, investigate violations, patrol public and private outdoor areas, and specialize in natural-resource and recreational law enforcement.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. State of Indiana — Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement; State Personnel Department job-code listing — open the source document
$66,000. Current 2026 recruitment and state compensation 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 Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division 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. Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division starts at $66,000, so $1,002 above the state middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division officer make?
Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division starts a new officer on $66,000 a year, about $31.73 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 State of Indiana — Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement; State Personnel Department job-code listing.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Indiana?
It ranks #22 of 39 agencies we have verified in Indiana — 17 pay less, 21 pay more in the state — and #966 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,390 below, and against other state agencies $1,002 above.
Compare with another department
Put Indiana Department of Natural Resources — Law Enforcement Division 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 IN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Indiana | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bloomington Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $81,234 | +$15,234 | #372 |
| 2 | MSD Wayne Township School Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $77,700 | +$11,700 | #464 |
| 3 | Columbus Police Department | Municipal | 88 | $74,984 | +$8,984 | #562 |
| 4 | Fishers Police Department | Municipal | 124 | $74,560 | +$8,560 | #575 |
| 5 | Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department | Municipal | — | $74,459 | +$8,459 | #581 |
| 6 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 142 | $72,539 | +$6,539 | #646 |
| 7 | West Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $72,391 | +$6,391 | #649 |
| 8 | Purdue University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $72,137 | +$6,137 | #659 |
| 9 | Carmel Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $72,000 | +$6,000 | #667 |
| 10 | Indiana State Police | State | 1,171 | $70,000 | +$4,000 | #769 |
| 11 | Indiana Gaming Commission — Enforcement Division | State | — | $70,000 | +$4,000 | #770 |
| 12 | Hamilton County Sheriff's Office | County | 62 | $70,000 | +$4,000 | #775 |
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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