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Pennsylvania Game Commission — State Game Wardens 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 Game Commission — State Game Wardens 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.
What Pennsylvania Game Commission — State Game Wardens says about itself
The Pennsylvania Game Commission's mission is to manage and protect wildlife and their habitats, while promoting hunting and trapping, for current and future generations.
What Pennsylvania Game Commission — State Game Wardens does
Pennsylvania State Game Wardens are sworn law-enforcement officers of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. They enforce wildlife and hunting laws, investigate wildlife crimes, protect wildlife and habitat, patrol state game lands and other areas, assist the public and perform conservation-law-enforcement and public-safety duties across the Commonwealth.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania / FOP Game Commission CBA 2024–2028, Appendix C — 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.
How this level compares
Where Pennsylvania Game Commission — State Game Wardens 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 Game Commission — State Game Wardens starts at $55,206, so $9,792 below the state middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Pennsylvania Game Commission — State Game Wardens officer make?
Pennsylvania Game Commission — State Game Wardens 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 / FOP Game Commission CBA 2024–2028, Appendix C.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #18 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 5 pay less, 17 pay more in the state — and #1,419 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 Game Commission — State Game Wardens 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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