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Clearwater 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.
Clearwater County Sheriff's Office starts at $51,272 a year — about $24.65 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $17,118 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $14,102 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in rural Idaho run about 8% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $55,813 would somewhere at average prices — $4,541 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 70 against a national average of 100, where goods are 97. Based on price levels for the non-metropolitan part of this state, because this agency is outside every 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 isClearwater County Sheriff's Office reported 11 sworn officers and 15 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 Clearwater County says about itself
It will be the mission of the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office to provide a safe and friendly environment by working with the people who make up our communities. Clearwater County shall be a place where visitors are welcome, where children can grow, families thrive and elderly retire.
What Clearwater County does
Clearwater County Sheriff's Office serves this forested north-central Idaho county of roughly 8,700 people from Orofino, with a substation at Weippe and the county jail on the second floor of the courthouse. Its civil division serves tax warrants, protection orders, writs, small claims, subpoenas and summonses under Idaho Code 31-2207. The office states its mission as providing a safe and friendly environment by working with the people who make up its communities, and holds trust, credibility and honesty as its most sacred attributes.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. This figure was advertised on the state POST job board on that date; postings there rotate, so the listing itself may since have closed. Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training official Law Enforcement Job Postings — Patrol Deputy — open the source document
Current 2026 posting closes 31 December 2026; official starting wage $24.65/hour
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 Clearwater 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. Clearwater County starts at $51,272, so $14,102 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Clearwater County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Clearwater County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $51,272 a year, about $24.65 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 Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training official Law Enforcement Job Postings — Patrol Deputy.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Idaho?
It ranks #34 of 51 agencies we have verified in Idaho — 17 pay less, 33 pay more in the state — and #1,530 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $17,118 below, and against other county agencies $14,102 below.
Compare with another department
Put Clearwater 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 Clearwater | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun Valley Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,005 | +$23,733 | #558 |
| 2 | Blaine County Sheriff's Office | County | 20 | $74,526 | +$23,254 | #577 |
| 3 | Boise Police Department | Municipal | 326 | $69,514 | +$18,242 | #791 |
| 4 | Meridian Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $67,621 | +$16,349 | #885 |
| 5 | Post Falls Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $67,330 | +$16,058 | #904 |
| 6 | Coeur d'Alene Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,872 | +$15,600 | #925 |
| 7 | Kootenai County Sheriff's Office | County | 104 | $65,291 | +$14,019 | #1,006 |
| 8 | Ada County Sheriff's Office | County | 220 | $64,896 | +$13,624 | #1,030 |
| 9 | McCall Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $63,773 | +$12,501 | #1,069 |
| 10 | Moscow Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $63,544 | +$12,272 | #1,079 |
| 11 | Lewiston Police Department | Municipal | 46 | $63,321 | +$12,049 | #1,094 |
| 12 | Idaho State Police | State | 311 | $62,546 | +$11,274 | #1,128 |
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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