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Aberdeen Police Department 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.
Aberdeen Police Department starts at $62,587 a year — about $30.09 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,680 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $6,198 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in South Dakota run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,651 would somewhere at average prices — $8,064 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 68 against a national average of 100, where goods are 95. 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 isAberdeen Police Department reported 54 sworn officers and 7 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 27,791.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. 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.
About Aberdeen
The Aberdeen Police Department is a community-oriented police organization of 56 commissioned officers, 7 civilian employees and 2 volunteer reserve officers, providing around-the-clock service in the City of Aberdeen and on the Northern State University campus. The department answers around 29,000 calls for service a year and its officers average over 70 hours of training each year.
Aberdeen’s rotation, in BlueShifts
The uniform patrol division works four consecutive ten-hour days followed by three consecutive days off, under Article 11.3(b) of the City's collective agreement with F.O.P. Lodge #4. Patrol officers bid shift and schedule by seniority on a four-month basis, and sergeants and detectives work the same four tens.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
Four tens on and three off is an eight-day fortnight in disguise: the three days off walk forward through the week, so the weekend you get this month is not the one you get next. BlueShifts builds the cycle once and fills in every month ahead, and the four-month shift bids are easy to lay side by side when the whole year is already drawn.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. City of Aberdeen and F.O.P. Lodge #4 Labor Council, Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2025 & 2026, Article 20 Police Salary Grid — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the City's own collective agreement with F.O.P. Lodge #4, which sets the Police Salary Grid by hourly rate: OFFICER grade A is $30.09 an hour, so $30.09 x 2,080 = $62,587.20 a year. Grade A is the bottom of the officer grid and the agreement's step system begins on completion of one year, so this is the entry rate rather than a step figure. For 2026 the agreement raises the grid by the greater of 3.5% or 80% of the ECI change for state and local government wages, but names no dollar figure for the increase, so the published grid rate is what is recorded here. No prior certification is required to start: the City's own police recruitment page asks only that an applicant agree to obtain a Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission certificate within their first year of employment.
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Aberdeen 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Aberdeen starts at $62,587, so $6,199 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Aberdeen Police Department officer make?
Aberdeen Police Department starts a new officer on $62,587 a year, about $30.09 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 City of Aberdeen and F.O.P. Lodge #4 Labor Council, Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2025 & 2026, Article 20 Police Salary Grid.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Dakota?
It ranks #9 of 17 agencies we have verified in South Dakota — 8 pay less, 8 pay more in the state — and #1,291 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,680 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,198 below.
What shifts do Aberdeen Police Department officers work?
The uniform patrol division works four consecutive ten-hour days followed by three consecutive days off, under Article 11.3(b) of the City's collective agreement with F.O.P. Lodge #4. Patrol officers bid shift and schedule by seniority on a four-month basis, and sergeants and detectives work the same four tens. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Aberdeen Police Department 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 SD
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Aberdeen | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sioux Falls Police Department | Municipal | 284 | $72,030 | +$9,443 | #744 |
| 2 | Rapid City Police Department | Municipal | 157 | $70,491 | +$7,904 | #835 |
| 3 | Spearfish Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $68,307 | +$5,720 | #953 |
| 4 | Pierre Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $68,307 | +$5,720 | #954 |
| 5 | Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $66,893 | +$4,306 | #1,044 |
| 6 | South Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 150 | $64,251 | +$1,664 | #1,201 |
| 7 | Mitchell Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $63,492 | +$905 | #1,240 |
| 8 | Pennington County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $63,357 | +$770 | #1,250 |
| 10 | Yankton Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $58,253 | −$4,334 | #1,512 |
| 11 | Edmunds County Sheriff's Office | County | 8 | $58,136 | −$4,451 | #1,520 |
| 12 | Brown County Sheriff's Office | County | 21 | $55,578 | −$7,010 | #1,645 |
| 13 | Union County Sheriff's Office | County | 13 | $55,120 | −$7,467 | #1,670 |
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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