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Custer 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.
Custer County Sheriff's Office starts at $54,746 a year — about $26.32 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,521 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $9,693 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in South Dakota run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $61,799 would somewhere at average prices — $7,054 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 68 against a national average of 100, where goods are 95. 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 isCuster County Sheriff's Office reported 16 sworn officers and 2 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 Custer County
The Custer County Sheriff's Office polices Custer County in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota, 1,559 square miles bordering Wyoming and the Pennington, Oglala Lakota and Fall River county lines, from 420 Mt Rushmore Road in Custer. Within the county are Jewel Cave National Monument, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park and the Crazy Horse Memorial, and the office provides contract patrols for the City of Custer and for the United States Forest Service. Deputies enforce local and state law, serve the legal processes of the courts and work to community policing principles; those arrested in the county are held at the Pennington County Jail. The office is led by the Sheriff with two lieutenants, sergeants, a corporal, a school resource officer and deputies, and it runs the county's dispatch center.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. Custer County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Sheriff Job Announcement dated 19 August 2026 (PDF on the County's own website) — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the Sheriff's Office's own announcement, published as a flyer on the County's employment page: 'Starting wage is $26.32 for uncertified and $27.59 for current South Dakota Law Enforcement certified officers.' $26.32 x 2,080 = $54,745.60. The office names the uncertified rate itself and its requirements confirm the measure - an applicant needs a current SD Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission certificate OR the ability to obtain certification within one year of hire, so no prior certification is required. The certified rate and the $1.00 an hour differential for hours between 1800 and 0600 are excluded. The announcement is for seven full-time deputy posts, one a vacancy and six newly created.
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 Custer 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Custer County starts at $54,746, so $9,692 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Custer County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Custer County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $54,746 a year, about $26.32 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 Custer County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Sheriff Job Announcement dated 19 August 2026 (PDF on the County's own website).
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Dakota?
It ranks #14 of 17 agencies we have verified in South Dakota — 3 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #1,694 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,521 below, and against other county agencies $9,693 below.
Compare with another department
Put Custer 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 SD
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Custer | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sioux Falls Police Department | Municipal | 284 | $72,030 | +$17,285 | #744 |
| 2 | Rapid City Police Department | Municipal | 157 | $70,491 | +$15,746 | #835 |
| 3 | Spearfish Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $68,307 | +$13,562 | #953 |
| 4 | Pierre Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $68,307 | +$13,562 | #954 |
| 5 | Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $66,893 | +$12,147 | #1,044 |
| 6 | South Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 150 | $64,251 | +$9,506 | #1,201 |
| 7 | Mitchell Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $63,492 | +$8,746 | #1,240 |
| 8 | Pennington County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $63,357 | +$8,611 | #1,250 |
| 9 | Aberdeen Police Department | Municipal | 54 | $62,587 | +$7,842 | #1,291 |
| 10 | Yankton Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $58,253 | +$3,507 | #1,512 |
| 11 | Edmunds County Sheriff's Office | County | 8 | $58,136 | +$3,390 | #1,520 |
| 12 | Brown County Sheriff's Office | County | 21 | $55,578 | +$832 | #1,645 |
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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