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South Carolina 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.
South Carolina Highway Patrol starts at $61,908 a year — about $29.76 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,777 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $3,258 below the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in South Carolina run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $66,036 would somewhere at average prices — $4,128 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 isSouth Carolina Highway Patrol reported 1,004 sworn officers 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 South Carolina Highway Patrol says about itself
The mission of the South Carolina Highway Patrol is to provide equitable service and protection, and uphold the laws of the constitutions of the United States and the State of South Carolina in order to promote a safe and secure environment for the public.
What South Carolina Highway Patrol does
South Carolina Highway Patrol is the state's traffic law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Public Safety alongside the State Transport Police and the Bureau of Protective Services. It is organised into seven regional troops covering the state, each led by a captain and divided into posts under a first sergeant, with troopers assigned to areas by population density, calls for service and the number of licensed drivers and registered vehicles. Beyond patrol it fields a multi-disciplinary accident investigation team that reconstructs complex collisions, an insurance enforcement unit working with the DMV to keep uninsured drivers off the roads, its own telecommunications unit, and the governor's security detail. New troopers enter through numbered basic patrol classes.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Trooper Careers — Benefits and salary table: "Trooper Trainee (Non-Certified)" $61,908 — open the source document
UPDATED 20 September 2026, from $60,761, which was the same class read on 8 August 2026 and has since risen. SCDPS publishes a salary table by tier: Trooper Trainee (Non-Certified) $61,908, requiring only a high school diploma or GED and age 21; Trooper Trainee (Certified) $62,786, for someone with less than eighteen months of active South Carolina law-enforcement experience; and Trooper First Class $63,663 after eighteen months of service. THE ENTRY TEST: the non-certified tier is the one taken. The certified tier is defined by ACTIVE LAW-ENFORCEMENT EXPERIENCE, which is prior sworn service and is what disqualifies; the Department adds that up to fifteen years of certified service, in state or out, will be verified for possible higher starting pay, which is the lateral ladder. Trooper First Class is a later step. NOTE ON THE CLASS NAME: 'Trooper Trainee' is the RANK held until Trooper First Class at eighteen months, not an academy-only wage - SCDPS publishes no separate academy-phase rate, so there is no higher post-academy figure being passed over here. Excluded: the $10,000 sign-on bonus for positions in critical-needs areas.
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 South Carolina Highway Patrol 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. South Carolina Highway Patrol starts at $61,908, so $3,258 below the state middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a South Carolina Highway Patrol officer make?
South Carolina Highway Patrol starts a new officer on $61,908 a year, about $29.76 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 South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Trooper Careers — Benefits and salary table: "Trooper Trainee (Non-Certified)" $61,908.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Carolina?
It ranks #3 of 27 agencies we have verified in South Carolina — 24 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #1,454 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,777 below, and against other state agencies $3,258 below.
Compare with another department
Put South Carolina 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 SC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs South | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $66,747 | +$4,839 | #1,142 |
| 2 | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 98 | $62,000 | +$92 | #1,449 |
| 4 | Horry County Police Department | County | — | $61,800 | −$108 | #1,461 |
| 5 | Rock Hill Police Department | Municipal | 148 | $61,331 | −$577 | #1,484 |
| 6 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $61,081 | −$827 | #1,496 |
| 7 | Mount Pleasant Police Department | Municipal | 159 | $60,611 | −$1,297 | #1,526 |
| 8 | Greenville County Sheriff's Office | County | 576 | $59,273 | −$2,635 | #1,618 |
| 9 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 419 | $58,115 | −$3,793 | #1,671 |
| 10 | Greenville Police Department | Municipal | 219 | $57,353 | −$4,555 | #1,739 |
| 11 | University of South Carolina Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 6 | $56,696 | −$5,212 | #1,767 |
| 12 | North Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 308 | $56,078 | −$5,830 | #1,794 |
| 13 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 305 | $55,975 | −$5,933 | #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.
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