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Louisiana 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.
Louisiana State Police starts at $57,680 a year — about $27.73 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,710 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $7,318 below the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Louisiana run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,392 would somewhere at average prices — $7,712 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 isLouisiana State Police reported 1,192 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 Louisiana State says about itself
Louisiana currently has ten State Police Troops, each of which is comprised of a collection of Louisiana's 64 parishes.
What Louisiana State does
The Louisiana State Police works from ten troops covering the state's 64 parishes, organised into four regions each commanded by a major. Alongside patrol it runs criminal patrol teams with narcotic-trained canines at every troop, a mobile field force and three regional communications centres operating around the clock.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 15 August 2026. Louisiana State Police Commission — State Police Pay Rank/Schedule, adopted effective 8 January 2024 — open the source document
State Police pay schedule effective 8 January 2024, pay range P1: $56,000 as a cadet on entrance, $57,680 on graduation from the training academy and POST certification, $59,410.40 on completing the field training officer programme, $61,192.71 after a year. The figure shown is the first rate paid as a certified trooper.
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 Louisiana 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. Louisiana State starts at $57,680, so $7,318 below the state middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Louisiana State Police officer make?
Louisiana State Police starts a new officer on $57,680 a year, about $27.73 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 Louisiana State Police Commission — State Police Pay Rank/Schedule, adopted effective 8 January 2024.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Louisiana?
It ranks #3 of 19 agencies we have verified in Louisiana — 16 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #1,352 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,710 below, and against other state agencies $7,318 below.
Compare with another department
Put Louisiana 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 LA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Louisiana | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office | County | 916 | $58,200 | +$520 | #1,310 |
| 2 | Baton Rouge Police Department | Municipal | 544 | $58,000 | +$320 | #1,320 |
| 4 | New Orleans Police Department | Municipal | 906 | $54,421 | −$3,259 | #1,456 |
| 5 | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,997 | −$3,683 | #1,473 |
| 6 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $45,000 | −$12,680 | #1,630 |
| 7 | Covington Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $43,672 | −$14,008 | #1,641 |
| 8 | Bossier City Police Department | Municipal | 200 | $42,576 | −$15,104 | #1,646 |
| 9 | LSU Health New Orleans University Police | Special jurisdiction | — | $38,646 | −$19,034 | #1,660 |
| 10 | Northwestern State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 17 | $38,646 | −$19,034 | #1,661 |
| 11 | Southern University and A&M College Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 17 | $38,646 | −$19,034 | #1,662 |
| 12 | Grambling State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 14 | $38,646 | −$19,034 | #1,663 |
| 13 | University of Louisiana Monroe Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 18 | $35,006 | −$22,674 | #1,666 |
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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