After the Houston Police Department boosted pay for officers, agencies across the region are scrambling to keep up and keep their people from leaving for better-paying departments.

A historic new contract has been approved to help recruit new officers, as well as raise officers' salaries. Right now, starting officers are making $64K a year, but this new contract will bump that to $81K a year. On top of that, the new contract adds 500 more officers to the department.

A recent report from Robert Half’s 2023 Salary Guide says that despite issues such as inflation and economic uncertainty, salaries continue to trend upward in the U.S.