Home › Police pay › South Dakota › Fall River County Sheriff's Office
Fall River 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.
Fall River County Sheriff's Office starts at $48,360 a year — about $23.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $18,907 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $16,078 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 $54,591 would somewhere at average prices — $6,231 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 isFall River County Sheriff's Office reported 8 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 Fall River County
The Fall River County Sheriff's Office polices Fall River County in the far south-western corner of South Dakota, a county of about 6,970 people, from the courthouse at Hot Springs. The Sheriff is Lyle Norton. The office runs the county jail alongside patrol and dispatch, with a 2026 establishment of seven deputy sheriffs, a civil deputy, dispatchers and jailers, and it contracts prisoner housing to Pennington County at daily rates set each January by the commissioners. Under an arrangement with neighbouring Oglala Lakota County, several Fall River County offices also serve that county.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. Fall River County, Employment Opportunity: Sheriff's Deputy (county's own website), corroborated by the County Commission's 2026 wage list published under SDCL 6-1-10 — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the County's own vacancy notice of 17 May 2026: 'Starting wage is $23.25/hour uncertified or $25.25-$26.25/hour certified DOE. Training and certification provided and required for continued employment.' $23.25 x 2,080 = $48,360.00. The county states the measure itself - the uncertified rate is named separately from the certified range, and the county pays for the training - so this is the entry figure and the certified range is excluded. TWO COUNTY DOCUMENTS AGREE: the commissioners' 2026 wage list, published in the minutes of 8 January 2026 under SDCL 6-1-10, shows seven deputy sheriffs at $23.25, $26.25, $27.00, $27.25, $27.75, $28.50 and $29.25 an hour, and the lowest of them is $23.25 to the cent. Longevity pay is on top and excluded: $35 a month after two years, rising to $125 a month after twenty.
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Fall River 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. Fall River County starts at $48,360, so $16,078 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fall River County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Fall River County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $48,360 a year, about $23.25 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 Fall River County, Employment Opportunity: Sheriff's Deputy (county's own website), corroborated by the County Commission's 2026 wage list published under SDCL 6-1-10.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Dakota?
It ranks #17 of 17 agencies we have verified in South Dakota — 0 pay less, 16 pay more in the state — and #1,915 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $18,907 below, and against other county agencies $16,078 below.
Compare with another department
Put Fall River 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 Fall | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sioux Falls Police Department | Municipal | 284 | $72,030 | +$23,670 | #744 |
| 2 | Rapid City Police Department | Municipal | 157 | $70,491 | +$22,131 | #835 |
| 3 | Spearfish Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $68,307 | +$19,947 | #953 |
| 4 | Pierre Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $68,307 | +$19,947 | #954 |
| 5 | Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $66,893 | +$18,533 | #1,044 |
| 6 | South Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 150 | $64,251 | +$15,891 | #1,201 |
| 7 | Mitchell Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $63,492 | +$15,132 | #1,240 |
| 8 | Pennington County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $63,357 | +$14,997 | #1,250 |
| 9 | Aberdeen Police Department | Municipal | 54 | $62,587 | +$14,227 | #1,291 |
| 10 | Yankton Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $58,253 | +$9,893 | #1,512 |
| 11 | Edmunds County Sheriff's Office | County | 8 | $58,136 | +$9,776 | #1,520 |
| 12 | Brown County Sheriff's Office | County | 21 | $55,578 | +$7,218 | #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.
Scan to install
