Robert Price used to be an Horry County state trooper who worried he'd never be able to retire.

Trooper Donald Cox worried about taking care of his family's medical expenses with shrinking health insurance coverage.

Cox and Price, along with two other former Horry County state troopers, have not worried as much about money and benefits since they got jobs last year as police officers in Las Vegas, where they all make significantly more money.

Entry-level salary for a state trooper in South Carolina is $24,616. Entry-level salary for a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer is $43,819.

These four men are among hundreds of state troopers who have left the Highway Patrol since the 1990s because of its low pay, said S.C. Troopers Association President David Latimer.

The S.C. Highway Patrol has the lowest pay in the Southeast, according to State Patrol and Police Compensation Consultants in Oklahoma.

The consultant group has ranked South Carolina last in the nation for trooper pay among 48 states, with Hawaii and New York pay unavailable.

About 50 troopers a year leave the Highway Patrol for other opportunities, said Sid Gaulden of the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

In order to maintain the number the Highway Patrol once had, about 50 people a year would have to graduate the approximately six-month-long academy each year. Gaulden said that isn't happening and recruitment is down.

While budget cuts and failed legislation to give troopers more money have been blamed for the dwindling numbers, officials hope a new salary increase plan may keep people such as Cox and Price patrolling S.C. highways.

Low pay often is an issue for workers such as police and firefighters, and state troopers have been hit especially hard.

The more populous counties such as Horry, Richland, Greenville and Charleston are having the bigger losses, Gaulden said, because there are more citizens in those areas and more troopers to lose.

The troopers usually go to other agencies or new careers for better money and benefits, he said. In many cases, county and city police departments offer better starting salaries and benefits, since they're not run by the state.

"The opportunities are better. They can get out there and make bigger salaries and take better care of their families," Gaulden said.

Some troopers go to other states such as Nevada.

When Price left Horry County for Las Vegas, he increased his salary by about $13,000, which he says will give more opportunities to his wife and two daughters.

"I would have never left [Horry County] if they offered the same benefits as Nevada, even if they offered me close to it," Price said.

Although there is a slightly higher cost of living in Las Vegas than in Myrtle Beach, Price said the salary more than makes up for it.

The salaries of low- to mid-ranking troopers has driven qualified candidates away and brought the total number of troopers in South Carolina down from about 1,100 a few years ago to about 810 today, Latimer said.

"To be frank, you can work at just about any police department and make more than [the starting salary for the Highway Patrol]. ... $24,000 is not enough compensation for what these guys have to do," he said.

In the Highway Patrol, raises come when a trooper is promoted in rank. Latimer said many state troopers are promoted to lance corporal, which has a minimum salary of $28,522, in about five years. But after that, it can be as long as 10 years until they are promoted in rank again, he said.

The S.C. Troopers Association and the Highway Patrol are pushing a pay plan they hope will retain troopers. They are asking state legislators to approve trooper raises of about 2.5 percent every two years. Latimer said it would give a career path to troopers who may not get promoted much.

Like Price, Cox said he enjoyed living in the Grand Strand, but he and his wife want to have children at some point. Being an entry-level officer in the police academy in Las Vegas paid $9,000 more a year than being a senior trooper in South Carolina.

"It was a tough decision," Cox said. "If the money wasn't a factor, I think I wouldn't have left."