Home › Police pay › New York › New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations 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.
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations starts at $53,764 a year — about $25.85 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,921 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $11,402 below the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New York run about 8% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $49,818 somewhere at average prices — $3,946 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 134 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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 New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations says about itself
DMV's Division of Field Investigation handles complaints regarding the misuse of documents issued by New York State DMV: if your driver's license or non-driver ID card has been used to commit a crime such as fraudulent credit card use, or to fraudulently obtain bank checks and passports, you may submit a Report of Unauthorized Use of License/Registration with all pertinent evidence you have collected concerning the alleged criminal activity, attaching copies of all pertinent documents that will assist in the investigation of your complaint. The Division is a registered criminal justice agency of the multi-jurisdictional type in the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services directory, and its investigators work with the State Police and the Department of Transportation on cases including the false registration of altered vehicles, charging offences such as offering a false instrument for filing and falsifying business records.
What New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations does
New York DMV investigators are certified state peace officers who investigate forged ownership and identity documents, fraud by registrants and licensees, vehicle theft and organized auto-theft activity, conduct forensic vehicle examinations, make arrests and assist prosecutions statewide.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. New York StateJobsNY — Department of Motor Vehicles Investigative Specialist — open the source document
$53,764.
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 New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations 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. New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations starts at $53,764, so $11,402 below the state middle.
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 it ranks
Common questions
How much does a New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations officer make?
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations starts a new officer on $53,764 a year, about $25.85 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 New York StateJobsNY — Department of Motor Vehicles Investigative Specialist.
Is that good pay for a police officer in New York?
It ranks #26 of 27 agencies we have verified in New York — 1 pay less, 25 pay more in the state — and #1,924 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,921 below, and against other state agencies $11,402 below.
Compare with another department
Put New York State Department of Motor Vehicles — Investigations 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 NY
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs New | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York State Department of Financial Services — Investigations | State | — | $86,681 | +$32,917 | #328 |
| 2 | New York State Police | State | 5,373 | $82,608 | +$28,844 | #415 |
| 3 | New York State Park Police | State | 269 | $73,796 | +$20,032 | #726 |
| 4 | Onondaga County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $71,764 | +$18,000 | #830 |
| 5 | Yonkers Police Department | Municipal | 625 | $70,229 | +$16,465 | #923 |
| 6 | Erie County Sheriff's Office | County | 175 | $69,274 | +$15,510 | #974 |
| 7 | Livingston County Sheriff's Office | County | 66 | $67,808 | +$14,044 | #1,067 |
| 8 | New York State Department of Environmental Conservation — Forest Rangers | State | — | $67,796 | +$14,032 | #1,068 |
| 9 | Yates County Sheriff's Office | County | 27 | $66,389 | +$12,625 | #1,170 |
| 10 | Hempstead Village Police Department | Municipal | 128 | $65,254 | +$11,490 | #1,240 |
| 11 | Albany Police Department | Municipal | 269 | $65,066 | +$11,302 | #1,252 |
| 12 | Clarkstown Police Department | Municipal | — | $64,783 | +$11,019 | #1,276 |
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
