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Boise 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.
Boise Police Department starts at $69,514 a year — about $33.42 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,124 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,751 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Idaho run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $72,794 would somewhere at average prices — $3,280 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 70 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isBoise Police Department reported 326 sworn officers and 104 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 238,450.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.
What Boise says about itself
The officers and staff of the Boise Police Department are dedicated to providing the highest quality public safety and law enforcement services to people who live, work and play in Idaho's capital city.
What Boise does
The Boise Police Department's entry recruitment seeks candidates for municipal police service who demonstrate communication, interpersonal judgment, problem-solving ability and commitment to the community. Successful entry candidates proceed through the department's testing, background and academy process for service as Boise Police Officers
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Boise official 2026 Ent — open the source document
Opened 1 June 2026; official entry rate $33.42/hour = $69,513.60 annually. The recruitment is specifically for Entry Police Officer candidates preparing for a department academy; lateral compensation and add-ons are excluded
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.
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How this level compares
Where Boise 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. Boise starts at $69,514, so $1,773 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Boise Police Department officer make?
Boise Police Department starts a new officer on $69,514 a year, about $33.42 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 Boise official 2026 Ent.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Idaho?
It ranks #3 of 51 agencies we have verified in Idaho — 48 pay less, 2 pay more in the state — and #791 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,124 above, and against other municipal agencies $1,751 below.
Compare with another department
Put Boise 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 ID
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Boise | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun Valley Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,005 | +$5,491 | #558 |
| 2 | Blaine County Sheriff's Office | County | 20 | $74,526 | +$5,013 | #577 |
| 4 | Meridian Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $67,621 | −$1,893 | #885 |
| 5 | Post Falls Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $67,330 | −$2,184 | #904 |
| 6 | Coeur d'Alene Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,872 | −$2,642 | #925 |
| 7 | Kootenai County Sheriff's Office | County | 104 | $65,291 | −$4,222 | #1,006 |
| 8 | Ada County Sheriff's Office | County | 220 | $64,896 | −$4,618 | #1,030 |
| 9 | McCall Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $63,773 | −$5,741 | #1,069 |
| 10 | Moscow Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $63,544 | −$5,970 | #1,079 |
| 11 | Lewiston Police Department | Municipal | 46 | $63,321 | −$6,193 | #1,094 |
| 12 | Idaho State Police | State | 311 | $62,546 | −$6,968 | #1,128 |
| 13 | Bellevue Marshal's Office | Municipal | 5 | $60,320 | −$9,194 | #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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