How to Become a Texas State Trooper: The DPS Pathway (2026)

If you do not already hold a Texas peace officer license, you cannot apply to DPS right now. The only open door on the Recruit School Schedule retrieved 2026-08-23 is B-2027 Advanced Peace Officer School, for officers who already have the license. Civilians wait on C-2027, which the same page still shows as Coming Soon.

A Texas state trooper works for the Texas Department of Public Safety, not a city. The path runs through DPS Recruit School, not a municipal academy. The college floor is a DPS gate. The license floor is TCOLE. Do not mix them.

The full hiring guide with every schedule card is How to Become a Texas State Trooper. This page is the ranked pathway: the door, the floor, the pay table, and the TCOLE overlay.

Last verified: 2026-08-23. Pay scale effective September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2027.

60 college earned hours, or the military / peace-officer substitute. U.S. citizen on DPS Age/Basic. Recruit pay is $51,255 on a 50-hour week plus a one-time $5,000 graduation bonus. DPS does not do lateral transfers. Apply on the Recruit School Schedule, not joindps.com.

Statewide license rules: TCOLE peace officer license requirements. City hiring: How to Become a Police Officer in Texas. Pay comparison: Texas police salary by department. Start from the law enforcement pathway if you are still picking a door.

The open door (retrieved 2026-08-23)

DPS, Recruit School Schedule and Become a Texas State Trooper. Become also prints a $5,000 stipend after graduation.

B-2027 is not a civilian class. The Advanced Peace Officer Academy page requires honorably served full-time paid peace officer time, benefits-eligible, designated by Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 2.122, within two continuous years with no break in-service as of March 26, 2027. DPS will not waive those two years. It will not accept reserve, corrections/jailer, or communications time. Out-of-state, federal, and military-police applicants have their own block on that page.

Do not tell a civilian to apply B-2027.

DPS eligibility (the trooper door)

DPS, Age/Basic Requirements for Trooper, retrieved 2026-08-21 and confirmed live 2026-08-23.

• At least 20 years old to apply. 21 years old upon graduating from Recruit School.
• U.S. citizen. The same page then quotes the TCOLE SB252 line: effective September 1, 2023, for appointments on or after December 1, 2024, honorably discharged veterans with at least two years of service who are legal permanent residents are eligible for a TCOLE peace officer license. That is TCOLE's license rule. DPS Age/Basic still opens on U.S. citizen. Both are printed here. Do not collapse them.
• 60 college earned hours from an accredited college or university. Applicants finishing a semester that will put them at 60 hours may submit a college letter certifying the hours.
• Up to 60 college hours may be waived with 24 months of active-duty military or equivalent full-time peace officer experience (Age/Basic). Federal law-enforcement time with a Special Investigator designation under CCP Article 2.122 counts if you have 24 months full-time with a qualifying federal agency.
• Reserve or National Guard: 730 retirement points or 6 years of service, verified by RPAM/RPAS. DD-214 and RPAM are both required to start.
• You will travel to Texas at least twice for required testing. DPS does not reimburse travel.

The education page is more specific than the 24-month full-waiver sentence. DPS, Education Requirements for Trooper:

A second table on that page covers Military Reserve or National Guard by points or years. Applicants substituting experience must still have a GED or a high school diploma. Military experience means active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, including active duty in a Reserve or National Guard component. Law-enforcement experience means full-time paid police duties in a governmental position that requires a Texas peace officer license or the equivalent in another state. Out-of-state reserve commissions do not count. Substituted time must be verifiable.

FAQ Q3 vs the process page, not averaged: the recruiting FAQ says original and certified documents are required, and all documents except certified college transcripts will be given back. The Recruit Applicant Process page says original documents submitted to the Department will not be returned. Confirm with your recruiter before you mail originals.

A driver license is a DPS supporting document, not a TCOLE license rule. Apply Online/Forms asks for a copy of your valid issued state driver license, original verified during testing. TCOLE's rule is below.

The hiring sequence

DPS, Recruit Applicant Process, retrieved 2026-08-21:

1. Apply Online/Forms
2. Physical Fitness Test / Written Test
3. Pre-Polygraph File Review
4. Polygraph Examination
5. Applicant File Review
6. Pre-Background Review
7. Background Investigation
8. Conditional Job Offer
9. Medical / Psychological Evaluations
10. Pre-Selection Final Review
11. Selection for Trooper Trainee School

FAQ: from application to the final acceptance letter can take 3 to 6 months. Top candidates move into a secondary screening about six months before Recruit School starts. Forms must be single-sided and at your recruiter at least 48 hours before the physical and written test. Recruiting office: 512-424-7500.

The Texas Department of Public Safety does not do lateral transfers (FAQ). Prior full-time peace officer time can move your pay after FTO. It does not skip Recruit School.

Physical readiness

DPS, Fitness Requirements for Recruits. This is not a municipal 2,000-meter row as the only event.

Applicant test: a timed 1.5-mile run and a 4-minute row, averaged to one score. You need a combined 55 percent to continue. The score is used in ranking. Open the sex-specific 1.5-mile PDFs and the 4-minute / 500-meter bodyweight chart on that page. This unit does not invent the times.

Day one of Recruit School: the same combined 55 percent. Fail it and the conditional job offer is rescinded. You reapply from the start.

First week of school also tests the 1.5-mile run, 500-meter row, 4-minute row, and 2,000-meter row.

Command presence waist: females 38 inches, males 43 inches, or the height/weight chart, or percent body fat.

Recruit School length (each is printed; none are averaged)

Law Enforcement Education on Training Operations calls it a rigorous 6 month recruit school covering tactical vehicle operation, firearms, use of force, report writing, communications, first aid, physical training, and Arrest and Control Tactics.

The schedule cards are dates, not a slogan:

• A-2027 (full school, closed): January 3, 2027 to July 30, 2027.
• B-2027 (Advanced, open): June 20, 2027 to September 24, 2027.
• C-2026 (closed): September 13, 2026 to April 9, 2027.

A 2015 DPS news item still on the site described an eight-week advanced school versus a standard course of more than 20 weeks. That page is out of date. Use the live schedule.

FAQ academy housing: you stay in the dorms and have limited leave. Housing is not provided for your family. Recruits are the only tenants.

Benefits page: recruit pay while in academy, room and board provided while in academy, uniforms issued.

Pay (FY 2026 scale)

DPS, Trooper Salary, Salary Schedule for FY 2026, current pay scale 09/01/2025 until 08/31/2027, retrieved 2026-08-23. The Texas Legislature authorized a 50-hour work week. Salary is paid monthly. Effective September 1, 2025.

Publish base yearly. The overtime column is a different number. The Advanced page reprints overtime as "combined" with cents that do not match the salary table ($90,544.78 vs $90,545.04). This page uses the salary table. not averaged. Do not treat yearly-with-overtime as base.

The same table continues through Trooper VI and a Sergeant/Agents block. Stipends named on that page, per month: education Masters $300 / Bachelor $200 / Associate $100; certificate Masters $300 / Advanced $200 / Intermediate $100; second language $100.

Prior law-enforcement experience, after the Department's FTO: four years of verified full-time peace officer time in any U.S. state advances you to Trooper II. Less than four years starts you at Trooper I until combined experience hits four years. FTO is six months (FAQ).

Hardship duty stations: FAQ says they exist and have an increase of salary. DPS does not publish the dollar amount on the pages opened for this unit. The department will not pay you to relocate.

After you pin the badge

DPS, Trooper Benefits: group life and health insurance, paid vacation, sick, and holiday leave, workers' compensation, take-home patrol unit with safety equipment, primary on-duty and off-duty weapon, tactical and duty equipment issued, uniform cleaning allowance.

Duty station, two pages, not averaged:

• Age/Basic: duty station assignments will be made prior to graduation. Available locations are based upon the needs of the Department.
• Full Recruit School: applicants invited to the academy are informed of their assigned region before the start. Duty station assignments are made within three weeks of starting the academy, dependent on availability in the state. The Department will make every attempt to accommodate the applicant's preferred duty station. Assignments are guaranteed upon graduation.

FAQ: 12-month commitment and up to 18 months, plus completion of field training, at the station you are assigned during the academy.

TCOLE overlay (troopers are peace officers)

Graduating Recruit School commissions you as a Texas peace officer. The license floor is 37 TAC 217.1, the same four lines as TCOLE peace officer license requirements. DPS can be stricter. It cannot be weaker.

1. Age. 21, or 18 with an associate's degree, 60 semester hours, or an honorable discharge after two years of active service. 37 TAC 217.1(b)(1)(A). DPS still requires 21 at Recruit School graduation. The TCOLE 18-year exceptions do not get you into DPS at 18.
2. Criminal history. Never convicted of or placed on court-ordered community supervision for anything above Class B. A Class A conviction is a lifetime bar. Only Class B carries the ten-year lookback. 37 TAC 217.1(b)(4), (b)(6). Family violence bars on community supervision as well as conviction. 217.1(b)(7). Read DPS's own disqualification chart before you apply. Do not treat "varies by agency" as the state floor.
3. Driver's license. TCOLE requires that you are not prohibited from operating a motor vehicle. 217.1(b)(8). A state driver license is a DPS supporting-document requirement, said separately above.
4. Citizenship. U.S. citizen, or a legal permanent resident who is an honorably discharged veteran with two years of service and has applied for citizenship. 217.1(b)(17). DPS Age/Basic opens on U.S. citizen and then names the SB252 TCOLE line. Both are printed here.

TCOLE also requires at least 40 hours of continuing education every two years. Training Operations says LEE recertifies DPS officers on that cycle.

What this page cut from the old draft

The 2026-06-23 draft is not restored wholesale.

• Old-draft trainee figure: cut. The salary table is $51,255 plus $5,000.
• Old-draft academy-week count: cut. LEE prints 6 month. The live cards print dates. Not averaged.
• Old-draft license-as-floor: cut. A state driver license is a DPS supporting document. TCOLE is 217.1(b)(8).
• Old-draft polygraph statute year and pre-test-interview folklore: cut. Polygraph is step 4 of the process page. Those two sentences were not on the DPS pages opened.
• County-count superlative and MOS-translation links: cut.
• Old apply host as the apply door: cut. FAQ still names that host. The apply door is the Recruit School Schedule.