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Lake Charles 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.
Lake Charles Police Department starts at $48,500 a year — about $23.32 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $18,767 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $20,286 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Louisiana run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $54,984 would somewhere at average prices — $6,484 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 63 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isLake Charles Police Department reported 138 sworn officers and 36 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 80,280.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 Lake Charles says about itself
The Lake Charles Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency in Lake Charles.
What Lake Charles does
The Lake Charles Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency in Lake Charles, Louisiana, covering about 40 square miles and more than 80,000 residents.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 19 September 2026. Lake Charles Police Department recruiting site (makethechange2lcpd.com), New Hires, beginning wage — open the source document
Current page read 19 September 2026; no effective date stated. $23.15/hr, plus a $6,000 hiring incentive.
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 Lake Charles 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Lake Charles starts at $48,500, so $20,286 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lake Charles Police Department officer make?
Lake Charles Police Department starts a new officer on $48,500 a year, about $23.32 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 Lake Charles Police Department recruiting site (makethechange2lcpd.com), New Hires, beginning wage.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Louisiana?
It ranks #8 of 28 agencies we have verified in Louisiana — 20 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #1,910 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $18,767 below, and against other municipal agencies $20,286 below.
Compare with another department
Put Lake Charles 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 LA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lake | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office | County | 916 | $58,200 | +$9,700 | #1,516 |
| 2 | Baton Rouge Police Department | Municipal | 544 | $58,000 | +$9,500 | #1,528 |
| 3 | Louisiana State Police | State | 1,192 | $57,680 | +$9,180 | #1,564 |
| 4 | Kenner Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $54,700 | +$6,200 | #1,696 |
| 5 | New Orleans Police Department | Municipal | 906 | $54,421 | +$5,921 | #1,708 |
| 6 | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,997 | +$5,497 | #1,729 |
| 7 | Gretna Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $49,118 | +$618 | #1,898 |
| 9 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $48,271 | −$229 | #1,919 |
| 10 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $45,000 | −$3,500 | #1,980 |
| 11 | Covington Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $43,672 | −$4,828 | #1,998 |
| 12 | Sulphur Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $43,553 | −$4,947 | #1,999 |
| 13 | Bossier City Police Department | Municipal | 200 | $42,576 | −$5,924 | #2,005 |
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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