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Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission 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.
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission starts at $55,206 a year — about $26.54 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,184 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $9,792 below the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Pennsylvania run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $56,580 would somewhere at average prices — $1,374 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: rent at 85, where goods are 99. 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 isPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission reported 89 sworn officers and 8 civilian staff 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 Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission says about itself
Fish and Boat Commission Waterways Conservation Officers are police officers who help to protect the Commonwealth's aquatic resources, the fish that inhabit them and the anglers and boaters that utilize them.
What Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission does
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Bureau of Law Enforcement is staffed by Waterways Conservation Officers — sworn police officers who protect the Commonwealth's aquatic resources and the anglers and boaters who use them. They enforce fishing, boating and environmental law, patrolling streams, rivers and lakes on foot, in vehicles and by boat, and investigate the illegal commercialisation of native species, wildlife trafficking and practices that damage the environment. Officers are assigned to regions across the Commonwealth and also run public outreach, stocking waterways with fish and leading fishing and boating safety courses. The bureau works with wildlife agencies in other states on investigations beyond its own jurisdiction.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 15 August 2026. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — 40 Hour Fish and Boat Officers Pay Schedule (pay scale type FB) — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 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.
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How this level compares
Where Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission 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. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission starts at $55,206, so $9,792 below the state middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officer make?
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission starts a new officer on $55,206 a year, about $26.54 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 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — 40 Hour Fish and Boat Officers Pay Schedule (pay scale type FB).
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #17 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 6 pay less, 16 pay more in the state — and #1,418 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,184 below, and against other state agencies $9,792 below.
Compare with another department
Put Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission 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 PA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Pennsylvania | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$48,215 | #71 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$34,956 | #212 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$17,881 | #624 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$17,445 | #643 |
| 5 | Allentown Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $72,607 | +$17,401 | #645 |
| 6 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | +$17,128 | #651 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | +$13,746 | #817 |
| 8 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | +$8,026 | #1,101 |
| 9 | Northampton County Sheriff's Department | County | 59 | $60,606 | +$5,400 | #1,209 |
| 10 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | +$3,138 | #1,303 |
| 11 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | +$2,894 | #1,316 |
| 12 | Lancaster County Sheriff's Office | County | 55 | $57,803 | +$2,597 | #1,338 |
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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