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Clay 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.
Clay County Sheriff's Office starts at $69,389 a year — about $33.36 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,704 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $5,829 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Fargo, ND-MN run about 9% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $76,360 would somewhere at average prices — $6,971 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 77 against a national average of 100, 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 isClay County Sheriff's Office reported 37 sworn officers and 54 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 Clay County says about itself
It is the mission of the Clay County Sheriff's Office to enforce the laws of the United States, the State of Minnesota and all local ordinances. Further, it is our mission to enforce the law with impartiality and courtesy and to respect the constitutional rights of all people, and to provide services to the citizens of Clay County that will enhance their quality of life. It is the policy of the office to protect the constitutional rights of all people regardless of race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical handicap or religion, and to treat each person with respect and dignity.
What Clay County does
Clay County Sheriff's Office polices 30 townships and six incorporated cities across more than 1,000 square miles of the Red River Valley, working from the Law Enforcement Center in Moorhead and remote substations. Its patrol division provides 24-hour coverage with a lieutenant, four patrol sergeants, patrol deputies and two school resource officers; most squads are four-wheel drive because of the extreme weather and the difficulty of reaching remote parts of the county. The patrol lieutenant administers state grants funding extra hours for specialty details — boat and water patrol, snowmobile, ATV enforcement, impaired driving and seatbelt enforcement and speed shifts. Every deputy also carries a secondary role on a specialised team such as the Red River Valley SWAT team, the K-9 unit or Crime Watch.
Shifts at Clay County
Clay County's patrol lieutenant administers state grants that fund additional work hours for specialty details — boat and water patrol, snowmobile, ATV enforcement, impaired driving and seatbelt enforcement, and speed shifts.
Grant-funded details are extra hours on top of your roster, and they are easy to lose track of across a year. BlueShifts keeps them beside your normal shifts, and its off-duty statistical calculator adds up what the extra work is really worth.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training official job posting — — open the source document
2026 posting; deadline 3 July 2026; $33.36-$49.49
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 Clay 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. Clay County starts at $69,389, so $5,824 above the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Clay County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Clay County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $69,389 a year, about $33.36 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 Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training official job posting —.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Minnesota?
It ranks #86 of 102 agencies we have verified in Minnesota — 16 pay less, 85 pay more in the state — and #968 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,704 above, and against other county agencies $5,829 above.
What shifts do Clay County Sheriff's Office officers work?
Clay County's patrol lieutenant administers state grants that fund additional work hours for specialty details — boat and water patrol, snowmobile, ATV enforcement, impaired driving and seatbelt enforcement, and speed shifts. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Clay 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 MN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Clay | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blaine Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $101,733 | +$32,344 | #111 |
| 2 | Stillwater Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $94,328 | +$24,939 | #193 |
| 3 | Columbia Heights Police Department | Municipal | 29 | $93,725 | +$24,336 | #198 |
| 4 | Carver County Sheriff's Office | County | 77 | $93,683 | +$24,294 | #200 |
| 5 | Oakdale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $93,538 | +$24,149 | #203 |
| 6 | Richfield Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,226 | +$23,837 | #205 |
| 7 | Maplewood Police Department | Municipal | 56 | $93,038 | +$23,650 | #209 |
| 8 | Forest Lake Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $92,789 | +$23,400 | #212 |
| 9 | Apple Valley Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $92,768 | +$23,379 | #213 |
| 10 | Coon Rapids Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $92,123 | +$22,734 | #226 |
| 11 | Saint Paul Police Department | Municipal | 562 | $91,291 | +$21,902 | #237 |
| 12 | Woodbury Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $91,187 | +$21,798 | #239 |
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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