Home › Police pay › South Carolina › Rock Hill Police Department
Rock Hill Police Department 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.
Rock Hill Police Department starts at $61,331 a year — about $29.49 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,354 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $6,809 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in South Carolina run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,420 would somewhere at average prices — $4,089 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 80 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isRock Hill Police Department reported 148 sworn officers and 50 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 76,087.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. 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 Rock Hill says about itself
To protect, serve and cultivate community relationships to ensure safety and security for all.
What Rock Hill does
The Rock Hill Police Department serves the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina, built on the values of community, excellence, integrity, loyalty and teamwork.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 19 September 2026. Rock Hill Police Department recruiting site (rhpdrecruit.com), Salary & Benefits, Police Officer I starting salary — open the source document
Page last modified 28 July 2026; no effective date stated. Based on an 84-hour pay period.
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 Rock Hill 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. Rock Hill starts at $61,331, so $6,809 below the municipal 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 Rock Hill Police Department officer make?
Rock Hill Police Department starts a new officer on $61,331 a year, about $29.49 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 Rock Hill Police Department recruiting site (rhpdrecruit.com), Salary & Benefits, Police Officer I starting salary.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Carolina?
It ranks #5 of 27 agencies we have verified in South Carolina — 22 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #1,484 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,354 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,809 below.
Compare with another department
Put Rock Hill Police Department 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 SC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Rock | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $66,747 | +$5,416 | #1,142 |
| 2 | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 98 | $62,000 | +$669 | #1,449 |
| 3 | South Carolina Highway Patrol | State | 1,004 | $61,908 | +$577 | #1,454 |
| 4 | Horry County Police Department | County | — | $61,800 | +$469 | #1,461 |
| 6 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $61,081 | −$250 | #1,496 |
| 7 | Mount Pleasant Police Department | Municipal | 159 | $60,611 | −$720 | #1,526 |
| 8 | Greenville County Sheriff's Office | County | 576 | $59,273 | −$2,058 | #1,618 |
| 9 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 419 | $58,115 | −$3,216 | #1,671 |
| 10 | Greenville Police Department | Municipal | 219 | $57,353 | −$3,978 | #1,739 |
| 11 | University of South Carolina Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 6 | $56,696 | −$4,635 | #1,767 |
| 12 | North Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 308 | $56,078 | −$5,253 | #1,794 |
| 13 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 305 | $55,975 | −$5,356 | #1,796 |
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

