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West Virginia State Police 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.
West Virginia State Police starts at $60,984 a year — about $29.32 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,701 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,182 below the median for state agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in West Virginia run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $68,141 would somewhere at average prices — $7,157 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 54 against a national average of 100, where goods are 97. 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 isWest Virginia State Police reported 440 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 West Virginia State says about itself
The West Virginia State Police shall have the mission of statewide enforcement of criminal and traffic laws with emphasis on providing basic enforcement and citizen protection from criminal depredation throughout the state and maintaining the safety of the state's public streets, roads and highways.
What West Virginia State does
The West Virginia State Police, formed in 1919, polices the state's rural and unincorporated areas through seven uniformed field troops divided into 20 districts and 57 detachments, with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations providing undercover and criminal investigators statewide. It is also the only agency to run a law-enforcement academy in West Virginia, training county and local officers as well as its own.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. West Virginia State Police, Become a Trooper: "Upon graduation from the academy salary will increase to $60,984.00 ($5,082.00 per month)" — open the source document
Corrected 10 September 2026 against the agency's own careers page, which states it plainly: cadets in training receive $53,724.00 a year ($4,477.00 a month), and on graduating the academy the salary increases to $60,984.00 ($5,082.00 a month). THE CADET RATE IS THE FIGURE because it is the rate from the start of employment - cadets are paid and receive full benefits while at the 24-week paramilitary academy at Institute, living in barracks Monday to Friday and released most weekends, with all equipment, meals and lodging paid by the department - and the post-academy rate is what the same trooper earns on graduating, followed by a three-month field training period at an assigned detachment. THIS REPLACES $45,784 TAKEN FROM THE STATE JOBS PORTAL ON 8 AUGUST 2026: the portal listing was low by nearly eight thousand dollars against the agency's own published figure. The agency's own page is the current one. THE ENTRY TEST: West Virginia allows a department to hire an uncertified officer provided they complete an academy within the first year, and the State Police train their own cadets from scratch, so no prior certification is required. Excluded: the $500 yearly longevity increase, salary increases on promotion, 15 to 24 paid vacation days depending on longevity, 1.5 sick days a month, and the State Police Plan B retirement system. *** CORRECTED 20 SEPTEMBER 2026, UP FROM $53,724 TO $60,984. *** The row deliberately published the CADET rate and said so, on the reasoning that it is the rate from the start of employment. That reasoning is sound on its own terms - cadets are paid and receive full benefits through the 24-week academy at Institute - but the standing rule is ENTRY PAY ONLY, NEVER A CADET, RECRUIT OR TRAINEE RATE: where both are listed, the pre-academy rate is not the figure. RE-READ ON THE AGENCY'S OWN PAGE 20 September 2026, which states both in consecutive sentences: 'Cadets in training will receive $53,724.00 ($4,477.00 per month)' and 'Upon graduation from the academy salary will increase to $60,984.00 ($5,082.00 per month)'. $60,984 is the trooper's starting step and is the figure. No prior service is required to reach it - graduation from the academy is the only condition, and academy certification never disqualifies.
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 West Virginia State 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. West Virginia State starts at $60,984, so $4,182 below the state middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a West Virginia State Police officer make?
West Virginia State Police starts a new officer on $60,984 a year, about $29.32 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 West Virginia State Police, Become a Trooper: "Upon graduation from the academy salary will increase to $60,984.00 ($5,082.00 per month)".
Is that good pay for a police officer in West Virginia?
It ranks #1 of 16 agencies we have verified in West Virginia — the highest in the state in the state — and #1,507 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,701 below, and against other state agencies $4,182 below.
Compare with another department
Put West Virginia State Police 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 WV
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs West | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $59,187 | −$1,797 | #1,621 |
| 3 | Morgantown Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $58,157 | −$2,827 | #1,666 |
| 4 | Huntington Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $57,787 | −$3,197 | #1,702 |
| 5 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,485 | −$3,499 | #1,730 |
| 6 | Charles Town Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $57,462 | −$3,522 | #1,732 |
| 7 | Kanawha County Sheriff's Office | County | 95 | $57,054 | −$3,930 | #1,747 |
| 8 | Monongalia County Sheriff's Office | County | 35 | $56,300 | −$4,684 | #1,781 |
| 9 | Martinsburg Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $55,710 | −$5,274 | #1,809 |
| 10 | Wheeling Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $55,161 | −$5,823 | #1,842 |
| 11 | Jefferson County Sheriff's Office | County | 34 | $55,125 | −$5,859 | #1,844 |
| 12 | Moundsville Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $54,621 | −$6,363 | #1,882 |
| 13 | Fairmont Police Department | Municipal | 33 | $53,597 | −$7,387 | #1,935 |
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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