State Trooper vs. Police Officer

A state trooper is an officer who works for the state, while a police officer works for a specific city within their state. A state trooper serves as highway patrol or as part of other state-wide agency programs. They are responsible for ensuring that people abide by state and federal laws. They also help protect the governor and state capital complex. Their primary goal is to reduce the number of collisions and promote safety on the roadways.

How hard is it to become a state trooper?

It is reasonably hard to become a state trooper. The selection process for becoming a state trooper involves multiple stages, and ultimately, only a limited number of candidates who successfully navigate through these stages are selected for the position. In fact, only around 5% to 20% of candidates who apply successfully make it into the state trooper program.

How To Become A State Trooper: What It Is and Career Path

What is a state trooper and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted Expert

Jill Myers

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a state trooper. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.14 an hour? That's $39,812 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a State Trooper?

Jill Myers

Director of the School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration

The more skill sets you have the better prepared you will be for future advancement and salary increases. Having a solid education, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and a masters degree will sometimes result in increased wages. Having federal certifications and competencies will enhance your opportunities and create potential marketability for your career. It is always a great skill set to have people skills, communication in both written and oral formats. It will enhance your ability to explain yourself in court, in the warrants one prepares, and with dealing with the public in all circumstances from victims and witnesses and suspects, to legislators, the funding sources like mayors and city council and the public at large.

ScoreState TrooperUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,812

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

10.0

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.93%

Asian 3.76%

Black or African American 12.48%

Hispanic or Latino 15.85%

Unknown 4.40%

White 62.59%

Gender

female 9.93%

male 90.07%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress Level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.8

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a state trooper

Explore state trooper education requirements

Most common state trooper degrees

Bachelor's

55.8 %

Associate

26.6 %

High School Diploma

7.9 %

Start to develop specific state trooper skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	30.08%
Public Safety	12.13%
Law Enforcement Agencies	9.82%
Criminal Law	4.78%
Field Training	3.76%

Complete relevant state trooper training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New state troopers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a state trooper based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real state trooper resumes.

Research state trooper duties and responsibilities

Administer CPR and Narcan injections for drug overdoses.
Answer calls for service, provide assistance to strand motorists, DUI detection and drug interdiction.
Monitor potential driving under the influence motor vehicle suspects, and subsequently make DUI arrests when appropriate.
Require to undergo firearm proficiency/self defense tactics and be able to operate a departmental cruiser safely during patrol.

Prepare your state trooper resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your state trooper resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a state trooper resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable State Trooper Resume templates

Build a professional State Trooper resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your State Trooper resume.

Apply for state trooper jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a state trooper job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do state troopers rate their job?

-/5

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State Trooper reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2020

Cons

How political the job has become. There isn’t a correct way to do your job. Almost everyone wants to get you fired. It’s annoying.