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Utah 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.
Utah Highway Patrol starts at $75,878 a year — about $36.48 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,488 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $10,881 above the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Utah run about 1% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $76,750 would somewhere at average prices — $872 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 79, 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 isUtah Highway Patrol reported 536 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 Utah Highway Patrol says about itself
The mission of the Utah Highway Patrol is to provide quality police services and to protect the constitutional rights of all people in Utah.
What Utah Highway Patrol does
The Utah Highway Patrol is the largest division of the Utah Department of Public Safety, working from numbered sections covering the state. Beyond general-duty troopers it runs commercial vehicle enforcement, motor vehicle safety inspections, protective services, special enforcement and a tactical response capability.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 15 August 2026. Utah Highway Patrol — official recruitment site, Compensation and Benefits, FY27 trooper step table — open the source document
The Utah Highway Patrol's own recruitment site publishes the trooper step table for FY27: step 1 at $36.48 an hour, rising through fifteen steps to $53.02. At 2,080 hours that is $75,878.40 a year. UHP matches prior sworn law enforcement service one year for one year, so an experienced hire may start above step 1.
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 Utah 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. Utah Highway Patrol starts at $75,878, so $10,880 above the state middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Utah Highway Patrol officer make?
Utah Highway Patrol starts a new officer on $75,878 a year, about $36.48 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 Utah Highway Patrol — official recruitment site, Compensation and Benefits, FY27 trooper step table.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Utah?
It ranks #4 of 31 agencies we have verified in Utah — 27 pay less, 3 pay more in the state — and #525 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,488 above, and against other state agencies $10,881 above.
Compare with another department
Put Utah 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 UT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Utah | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City Police Department | Municipal | 589 | $76,315 | +$437 | #503 |
| 2 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,982 | +$104 | #518 |
| 3 | Taylorsville Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,941 | +$62 | #523 |
| 5 | Sandy Police Department | Municipal | — | $73,112 | −$2,766 | #621 |
| 6 | West Valley City Police Department | Municipal | — | $73,045 | −$2,833 | #625 |
| 7 | Cottonwood Heights Police Department | Municipal | — | $69,763 | −$6,115 | #785 |
| 8 | Murray City Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $68,890 | −$6,989 | #821 |
| 9 | Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake | Municipal | — | $68,099 | −$7,779 | #858 |
| 10 | South Salt Lake Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,997 | −$8,882 | #916 |
| 11 | Orem Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,768 | −$9,110 | #931 |
| 12 | Moab Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,747 | −$9,131 | #936 |
| 13 | South Jordan Police Department | Municipal | — | $66,435 | −$9,443 | #952 |
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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