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Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement 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.
Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department starts at $67,648 a year — about $32.52 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $742 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $3,617 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Montana run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $71,475 would somewhere at average prices — $3,827 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 72 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.
What Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department says about itself
We aim to be the best law enforcement department we can be, serving the citizens of Butte-Silver Bow to the best of our abilities. We strive on a daily basis to be as professional and responsive to the needs of our community as possible.
What Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department does
Butte-Silver Bow describes the Non-Confirmed Police Officer as performing responsible and difficult law-enforcement work, patrolling designated areas and enforcing laws through detection and apprehension of violators. The class is the first step of field training toward full Police Officer responsibilities.
Shifts at Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department
Butte-Silver Bow patrol officers work a 12-hour schedule covering the county 24/7, assigned to either the Day Shift or the Graveyard Shift, each supervised by a Lieutenant.
A straight day-or-graveyard twelve is simple until court dates, overtime and swaps land on it. BlueShifts keeps the tour and everything hung off it in one calendar you can share at home.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. employer-controlled City and County of Butte-Silver Bow NEOGOV Non-Confirmed Police Officer posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 9 April 2026.
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 Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department 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. Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department starts at $67,648, so $3,639 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department officer make?
Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department starts a new officer on $67,648 a year, about $32.52 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 employer-controlled City and County of Butte-Silver Bow NEOGOV Non-Confirmed Police Officer posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Montana?
It ranks #13 of 23 agencies we have verified in Montana — 10 pay less, 12 pay more in the state — and #882 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $742 below, and against other municipal agencies $3,617 below.
What shifts do Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department officers work?
Butte-Silver Bow patrol officers work a 12-hour schedule covering the county 24/7, assigned to either the Day Shift or the Graveyard Shift, each supervised by a Lieutenant. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement 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 MT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Butte-Silver | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missoula Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $95,326 | +$27,679 | #142 |
| 2 | Bozeman Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $79,581 | +$11,933 | #416 |
| 3 | Gallatin County Sheriff's Office | County | 72 | $79,456 | +$11,808 | #421 |
| 4 | Kalispell Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $79,334 | +$11,686 | #424 |
| 5 | Missoula County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $77,563 | +$9,915 | #468 |
| 6 | Great Falls Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $76,253 | +$8,605 | #504 |
| 7 | Cascade County Sheriff's Office | County | 43 | $73,778 | +$6,130 | #603 |
| 8 | Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office | County | 65 | $72,800 | +$5,152 | #637 |
| 9 | Belgrade Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $71,761 | +$4,113 | #682 |
| 10 | Montana Highway Patrol | State | 225 | $71,240 | +$3,592 | #712 |
| 11 | Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office | County | 54 | $69,285 | +$1,637 | #799 |
| 12 | Billings Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $69,056 | +$1,408 | #812 |
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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