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Ada County Sheriff's Office 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.
Ada County Sheriff's Office starts at $64,896 a year — about $31.20 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,494 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $478 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Boise City, ID run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,957 would somewhere at average prices — $1,061 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 71, where goods are 96. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isAda County Sheriff's Office reported 220 sworn officers and 621 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025.No rate is shown: this agency does not police a single population the FBI publishes a figure for. 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.
What Ada County says about itself
Our mission is to make safer places for you to live, work, and play.
What Ada County does
Ada County Sheriff's Office provides patrol, criminal investigations, jail, court-security, civil, emergency communications and specialized public-safety services. Official County materials emphasize professional service, public safety, integrity and partnership with the community.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Ada County official GovernmentJobs posting — Patrol Deputy (Entry Level - January 2026 Academy) — open the source document
Entry-level/non-certified recruitment for January 2026 academy; minimum $31.20/hour annualized at 2,080 hours; posting explicitly applies to non-certified applicants
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.
How this level compares
Where Ada County 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Ada County starts at $64,896, so $478 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Ada County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Ada County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $64,896 a year, about $31.20 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 Ada County official GovernmentJobs posting — Patrol Deputy (Entry Level - January 2026 Academy).
Is that good pay for a police officer in Idaho?
It ranks #8 of 51 agencies we have verified in Idaho — 43 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #1,030 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,494 below, and against other county agencies $478 below.
Compare with another department
Put Ada County Sheriff's Office 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 ID
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Ada | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun Valley Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,005 | +$10,109 | #558 |
| 2 | Blaine County Sheriff's Office | County | 20 | $74,526 | +$9,630 | #577 |
| 3 | Boise Police Department | Municipal | 326 | $69,514 | +$4,618 | #791 |
| 4 | Meridian Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $67,621 | +$2,725 | #885 |
| 5 | Post Falls Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $67,330 | +$2,434 | #904 |
| 6 | Coeur d'Alene Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,872 | +$1,976 | #925 |
| 7 | Kootenai County Sheriff's Office | County | 104 | $65,291 | +$395 | #1,006 |
| 9 | McCall Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $63,773 | −$1,123 | #1,069 |
| 10 | Moscow Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $63,544 | −$1,352 | #1,079 |
| 11 | Lewiston Police Department | Municipal | 46 | $63,321 | −$1,575 | #1,094 |
| 12 | Idaho State Police | State | 311 | $62,546 | −$2,350 | #1,128 |
| 13 | Bellevue Marshal's Office | Municipal | 5 | $60,320 | −$4,576 | #1,223 |
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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