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Burleigh 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.
Burleigh County Sheriff's Office starts at $56,576 a year — about $27.20 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,109 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $6,984 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in North Dakota run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $63,598 would somewhere at average prices — $7,022 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 71 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 isBurleigh County Sheriff's Office reported 56 sworn officers and 8 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.
About Burleigh County
The Burleigh County Sheriff's Department polices the county around Bismarck under North Dakota Century Code Chapter 11-15. Its Enforcement Division is split into a Patrol Section and an Investigations Section, with 1,652 square miles and 1,681 miles of federal, state, county and township roads to cover, and the department reports that rural housing growth and commuting into Bismarck have pushed up both calls for service and traffic violations. The Patrol Section runs traffic-safety programmes with the North Dakota Department of Transportation aimed at impaired driving and vehicle safety equipment. A separate Operations Division holds the warrants, transport, civil process, court security, 24/7, administrative and training sections, and the department also runs SWAT and a dive rescue and recovery team.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. Burleigh County 2026 Pay Grade and Pay Step Structure, approved 15 September 2025 — Grade 7, Step 1 — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the County's own approved pay structure, which gives every grade in both hourly and annual terms: GRADE 7, STEP 1 is $27.20 an hour and $56,576.00 a year, running to $95,492.80 at step 20. The County's Deputy Sheriff recruitment places the position at Grade 7 with an advertised range of $27.20 to $30.19 an hour, which is Grade 7 steps 1 to 5 of this same table to the cent, so step 1 is the hiring rate. No prior sworn service is required to start: the County accepts an associate's degree or 60 semester hours, OR three years of full-time active-duty military service, OR three years as a law enforcement officer, OR three years as a detention officer at the Burleigh Morton County Detention Center, OR four years in the National Guard.
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 Burleigh 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 | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| 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 $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Burleigh County starts at $56,576, so $6,989 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Burleigh County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Burleigh County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $56,576 a year, about $27.20 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 Burleigh County 2026 Pay Grade and Pay Step Structure, approved 15 September 2025 — Grade 7, Step 1.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Dakota?
It ranks #12 of 12 agencies we have verified in North Dakota — 0 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #1,771 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,109 below, and against other county agencies $6,984 below.
Compare with another department
Put Burleigh 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 ND
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Burleigh | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McKenzie County Sheriff's Office | County | 39 | $75,785 | +$19,209 | #643 |
| 2 | North Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 165 | $73,332 | +$16,756 | #743 |
| 3 | Grand Forks Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $69,326 | +$12,750 | #971 |
| 4 | Fargo Police Department | Municipal | 185 | $68,494 | +$11,918 | #1,019 |
| 5 | North Dakota Game and Fish Department — Enforcement Division | State | — | $65,808 | +$9,232 | #1,200 |
| 6 | Williston Police Department | Municipal | 64 | $65,520 | +$8,944 | #1,219 |
| 7 | West Fargo Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $64,376 | +$7,800 | #1,295 |
| 8 | Bismarck Police Department | Municipal | 128 | $63,123 | +$6,547 | #1,375 |
| 9 | Richland County Sheriff's Office | County | 18 | $62,213 | +$5,637 | #1,437 |
| 10 | Mountrail County Sheriff's Office | County | 11 | $62,100 | +$5,524 | #1,441 |
| 11 | Dickinson Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $60,345 | +$3,769 | #1,544 |
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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