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Tulsa 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.
Tulsa Police Department starts at $60,611 a year — about $29.14 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,656 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $8,175 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Oklahoma run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $68,999 would somewhere at average prices — $8,388 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 63 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isTulsa Police Department reported 836 sworn officers and 248 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 415,528.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 Tulsa says about itself
The Tulsa Police Department will work in partnership with our community to provide quality service, protect life and property, prevent crime, and resolve problems so all people can live without fear in a safe community.
What Tulsa does
The Tulsa Police Department is the municipal force for Oklahoma's second city and the second largest law enforcement agency in the state, formally organised in 1907 when Tulsa incorporated. It is led by a chief of police with three deputy chiefs, each responsible for a bureau of three or four divisions, and holds CALEA accreditation. Recruits attend the department's own Tulsa Police Academy, which delivers 1,093 hours of basic training - well beyond the Oklahoma CLEET minimum - followed by 16 weeks of field training with a certified field training officer before assignment to a patrol beat. The department reports over 400 officers in specialty assignments, including a special operations team, a K-9 unit of at least twelve handler and dog teams, and a motorcycle squad.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 27 August 2026. Academy base pay, Tulsa Police Department recruiting site (JoinTPD) salary and benefits page. — open the source document
ACADEMY BASE PAY $60,611. Tulsa recruits are paid as full employees from the first day of the academy, so this is the rate at hire with no prior service. The department also publishes an average first-year officer figure of $70,401, which INCLUDES overtime and holiday pay and is therefore not a base rate, and potential base pay for officer rank of $114,400+ once education and longevity are counted; topped-out sergeants exceed $122,000 and lieutenants $130,000. Officers are paid biweekly on a 40-hour week, and pay is set by the annual contract between the City of Tulsa and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93. Retirement is available at 20 years on 60% of pay, scaling 3% for each further year to a maximum of 90% at 30 years. Up to six weeks of paid parental leave. ENTRY REQUIRES A COMPLETED BACHELOR'S DEGREE with a 2.00 GPA or better, applicants must be 21-45, and officers must live in the Tulsa metropolitan area once hired; the department runs a degree pathway programme for applicants who do not yet hold one.
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 Tulsa 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Tulsa starts at $60,611, so $8,175 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Tulsa Police Department officer make?
Tulsa Police Department starts a new officer on $60,611 a year, about $29.14 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 Academy base pay, Tulsa Police Department recruiting site (JoinTPD) salary and benefits page..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Oklahoma?
It ranks #8 of 16 agencies we have verified in Oklahoma — 8 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #1,396 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,656 below, and against other municipal agencies $8,175 below.
Compare with another department
Put Tulsa 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 OK
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Tulsa | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broken Arrow Police Department | Municipal | 168 | $72,004 | +$11,393 | #746 |
| 2 | Moore Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $70,796 | +$10,185 | #824 |
| 3 | Edmond Police Department | Municipal | 126 | $68,481 | +$7,870 | #941 |
| 4 | Oklahoma Highway Patrol | State | 789 | $67,900 | +$7,289 | #982 |
| 5 | Oklahoma City Police Department | Municipal | 1,108 | $67,735 | +$7,124 | #990 |
| 6 | Yukon Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $63,058 | +$2,447 | #1,269 |
| 7 | Norman Police Department | Municipal | 177 | $61,000 | +$389 | #1,375 |
| 9 | Tulsa County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $60,000 | −$611 | #1,437 |
| 10 | Bartlesville Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $57,450 | −$3,161 | #1,574 |
| 11 | Enid Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $56,243 | −$4,368 | #1,621 |
| 12 | Lawton Police Department | Municipal | 167 | $56,118 | −$4,493 | #1,624 |
| 13 | Muskogee Police Department | Municipal | 79 | $55,266 | −$5,345 | #1,659 |
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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