Home › Police pay › Kentucky › Kentucky State Police
Kentucky State Police 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.
Kentucky State Police starts at $64,998 a year — about $31.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,392 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and level with the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Kentucky run about 10% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $72,092 would somewhere at average prices — $7,095 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 64 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.
How big the department isKentucky State Police reported 1,078 sworn officers 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 Kentucky State says about itself
All of Kentucky is thankful for the service of the over 1,800 employees who make up the agency, including more than 800 troopers and officers.
What Kentucky State does
The Kentucky State Police serves all 120 counties in the commonwealth, with more than 1,800 employees including over 800 troopers and officers. It works from numbered posts grouped into West, East and Special Enforcement troops, the last covering drug enforcement, aircraft support, vehicle investigations, special operations and the Critical Incident Response Team.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Kentucky State Police — Recruitment — open the source document
The source page does not state an effective date.
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.
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 this level compares
Where Kentucky State 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. Kentucky State starts at $64,998, so $0 above the state middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Kentucky State Police officer make?
Kentucky State Police starts a new officer on $64,998 a year, about $31.25 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 Kentucky State Police — Recruitment.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Kentucky?
It ranks #2 of 8 agencies we have verified in Kentucky — 6 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #1,024 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,392 below, and against other state agencies level with.
Compare with another department
Put Kentucky State Police 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 KY
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Kentucky | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisville Metro Police Department | Municipal | 1,013 | $66,760 | +$1,762 | #932 |
| 3 | Bowling Green Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $63,839 | −$1,159 | #1,066 |
| 4 | Owensboro Police Department | Municipal | 101 | $62,254 | −$2,744 | #1,144 |
| 5 | Henderson Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $51,778 | −$13,219 | #1,523 |
| 6 | Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources — Law Enforcement Division | State | — | $47,794 | −$17,203 | #1,603 |
| 7 | University of Kentucky Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 76 | $47,278 | −$17,719 | #1,606 |
| 8 | Shelby County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $39,520 | −$25,478 | #1,657 |
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
