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Tennessee Bureau of Investigation 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.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation starts at $67,764 a year — about $32.58 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,079 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $2,598 above the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Tennessee run about 8% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $73,761 would somewhere at average prices — $5,997 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 72 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 isTennessee Bureau of Investigation reported 484 sworn officers and 277 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 Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says about itself
The TBI takes pride in the fact that it has evolved over the years into a respected law enforcement organization with dedicated, professional employees.
What Tennessee Bureau of Investigation does
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is the state's bureau of investigation, with statutory authority to conduct criminal investigations and make arrests anywhere in Tennessee, working from headquarters in Nashville across four regions. It began in 1951 as the Tennessee Bureau of Criminal Identification, the plainclothes division of the Department of Safety, created after a Greene County murder in 1949 led a newspaper publisher to call for an unbiased state agency to help local police with serious crime; it was re-established as an independent agency under its present name on 27 March 1980. Its divisions cover criminal investigation, drug investigation, forensic services, technology and innovation, and training. The Forensic Services Division is accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board across all its testing disciplines, crime scene processing and breath alcohol calibration. Its Polygraph Unit, six special agent examiners across the four regions, is the only nationally accredited polygraph unit in the state. It also runs a Victim Services Unit, the state's sex offender and drug offender registries, and the Overdose and Violent Crime Task Force, which trains, equips and pays overtime to local officers seconded to it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 September 2026. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation newsroom, vacancy announcement for TBI Special Agent Criminal Investigator 1 — monthly salary minimum — open the source document
Read 10 September 2026 from the Bureau's own newsroom, announcement dated 29 July 2026: TBI Special Agent Criminal Investigator, monthly salary $5,647 to $9,005. The annual figure is twelve times the monthly minimum, which is the arithmetic the State itself publishes on the same vacancy - $67,764 to $108,060 a year. THE MINIMUM IS A FIGURE HERE RATHER THAN THE FLOOR OF A DOE BAND, because the Bureau names what lifts pay above it: 5 per cent for a graduate degree or relevant certification, and up to 10 per cent for experience at 2 per cent per year of investigative law enforcement experience. Everything above the minimum is an itemised incentive. THE ENTRY TEST IS SETTLED BY THE CLASS SPECIFICATION: Special Agent Criminal Investigator 1 is 'the entry class in the TBI Special Agent sub-series', an employee in it acts in a training capacity, and the minimum qualification is a bachelor's degree with, in the Bureau's words, no substitutions or exceptions - prior law enforcement service is NOT required and buys only the 2 per cent a year incentive. Appointees complete the TBI Investigative Course and Field Training Program on appointment and are reclassified to Special Agent Criminal Investigator 2 after probation. Excluded: those incentives and the $10,000 annual bonus paid for investigative duties performed in Shelby County. AN OLD FIGURE STILL IN CIRCULATION: the Bureau's 2021 and 2022 announcements advertised $3,777 to $4,344 a month for the same class, and a 2024 one $5,508 to $8,783 - the 29 July 2026 announcement is the current one and is what is published here.
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 Tennessee Bureau of Investigation 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. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation starts at $67,764, so $2,598 above the state middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officer make?
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation starts a new officer on $67,764 a year, about $32.58 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 Tennessee Bureau of Investigation newsroom, vacancy announcement for TBI Special Agent Criminal Investigator 1 — monthly salary minimum.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Tennessee?
It ranks #4 of 26 agencies we have verified in Tennessee — 22 pay less, 3 pay more in the state — and #1,070 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,079 above, and against other state agencies $2,598 above.
Compare with another department
Put Tennessee Bureau of Investigation 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 TN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Tennessee | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brentwood Police Department | Municipal | 67 | $75,804 | +$8,040 | #640 |
| 2 | Metropolitan Nashville Police Department | Municipal | 1,546 | $70,904 | +$3,140 | #888 |
| 3 | Murfreesboro Police Department | Municipal | 313 | $67,922 | +$158 | #1,063 |
| 5 | Germantown Police Department | Municipal | 113 | $66,773 | −$991 | #1,135 |
| 6 | Smyrna Police Department | Municipal | 106 | $66,305 | −$1,459 | #1,171 |
| 7 | Tennessee Highway Patrol | State | — | $65,804 | −$1,960 | #1,201 |
| 8 | Hendersonville Police Department | Municipal | 134 | $65,654 | −$2,110 | #1,211 |
| 9 | Franklin Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $65,000 | −$2,764 | #1,256 |
| 10 | Chattanooga Police Department | Municipal | 397 | $60,460 | −$7,304 | #1,538 |
| 11 | Pigeon Forge Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $60,014 | −$7,750 | #1,565 |
| 12 | Collierville Police Department | Municipal | 115 | $60,000 | −$7,764 | #1,584 |
| 13 | Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency — Law Enforcement Division | State | — | $59,700 | −$8,064 | #1,595 |
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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