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Tennessee 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.
Tennessee Highway Patrol starts at $65,804 a year — about $31.64 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,586 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $806 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 $71,627 would somewhere at average prices — $5,823 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.
What Tennessee Highway Patrol says about itself
THP is a multi-faceted, full-service, statewide law enforcement agency with numerous divisions.
What Tennessee Highway Patrol does
The Tennessee Highway Patrol, formed in 1929, is a division of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security organised into eight districts. It describes itself as a multi-faceted, full-service statewide agency: alongside traffic enforcement its troopers handle crash reconstruction, criminal interdiction and investigation, K-9, diving, aviation, bomb squad and executive protection.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security official THP careers — open the source document
$65,804. Current official Tennessee Highway Patrol recruiting information; verified 8 August 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 Tennessee 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 | $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. Tennessee Highway Patrol starts at $65,804, so $806 above the state middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer make?
Tennessee Highway Patrol starts a new officer on $65,804 a year, about $31.64 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 Department of Safety and Homeland Security official THP careers.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Tennessee?
It ranks #4 of 12 agencies we have verified in Tennessee — 8 pay less, 3 pay more in the state — and #978 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,586 below, and against other state agencies $806 above.
Compare with another department
Put Tennessee 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 TN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Tennessee | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brentwood Police Department | Municipal | 67 | $75,804 | +$10,000 | #529 |
| 2 | Metropolitan Nashville Police Department | Municipal | 1,546 | $70,904 | +$5,100 | #731 |
| 3 | Murfreesboro Police Department | Municipal | 313 | $67,922 | +$2,118 | #867 |
| 5 | Franklin Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $65,000 | −$804 | #1,020 |
| 6 | Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency — Law Enforcement Division | State | — | $59,700 | −$6,104 | #1,260 |
| 7 | Memphis Police Department | Municipal | 1,966 | $57,937 | −$7,867 | #1,324 |
| 8 | Clarksville Police Department | Municipal | 328 | $57,712 | −$8,092 | #1,346 |
| 9 | Spring Hill Police Department | Municipal | 77 | $57,616 | −$8,188 | #1,355 |
| 10 | Shelby County Sheriff's Office | County | 621 | $51,518 | −$14,286 | #1,528 |
| 11 | Springfield Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $50,710 | −$15,094 | #1,543 |
| 12 | Kingsport Police Department | Municipal | 116 | $47,840 | −$17,964 | #1,602 |
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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