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Nevada State Police — Highway Patrol 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.
Nevada State Police — Highway Patrol starts at $67,939 a year — about $32.66 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,254 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $2,773 above the median for state agencies.
What Nevada State says about itself
The Nevada Highway Patrol's (NHP) mission is to promote safety on Nevada Highways by providing law enforcement traffic services to the motoring public.
What Nevada State does
The Nevada Highway Patrol became the Nevada State Police in 2021, when state lawmakers authorized the Department of Public Safety to rebrand its divisions. Highway Patrol troopers work traffic both on and off the highways and carry out traditional police functions in parts of rural Nevada; the wider department also covers capitol police, investigations, parole and probation and the state fire marshal.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. State of Nevada official employee compensation/classification pay schedule — Department of Public Safety Officer series — open the source document
$67,939.20. Current State of Nevada compensation schedule for FY 2026; 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 Nevada 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 | $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. Nevada State starts at $67,939, so $2,773 above the state middle.
How it ranks
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Common questions
How much does a Nevada State Police — Highway Patrol officer make?
Nevada State Police — Highway Patrol starts a new officer on $67,939 a year, about $32.66 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 Nevada official employee compensation/classification pay schedule — Department of Public Safety Officer series.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Nevada?
It ranks #8 of 26 agencies we have verified in Nevada — 18 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #1,061 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,254 above, and against other state agencies $2,773 above.
Compare with another department
Put Nevada State Police — Highway Patrol 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 NV
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Nevada | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada Gaming Control Board — Enforcement Division | State | 63 | $102,692 | +$34,753 | #103 |
| 2 | Boulder City Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $75,941 | +$8,002 | #633 |
| 3 | Washoe County Sheriff's Office | County | 465 | $75,296 | +$7,357 | #661 |
| 4 | Sparks Police Department | Municipal | 122 | $74,360 | +$6,421 | #703 |
| 5 | Henderson Police Department | Municipal | 534 | $71,885 | +$3,946 | #820 |
| 6 | Reno Police Department | Municipal | 336 | $68,890 | +$950 | #999 |
| 7 | North Las Vegas Police Department | Municipal | 315 | $68,099 | +$160 | #1,048 |
| 9 | Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department | Municipal | 3,226 | $67,662 | −$277 | #1,081 |
| 10 | Douglas County Sheriff's Office | County | 104 | $66,851 | −$1,088 | #1,131 |
| 11 | Churchill County Sheriff's Office | County | 40 | $65,312 | −$2,627 | #1,238 |
| 12 | Lyon County Sheriff's Office | County | 63 | $64,764 | −$3,175 | #1,278 |
| 13 | Clark County Office of Public Safety | Municipal | — | $64,022 | −$3,917 | #1,316 |
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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