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Fargo Police 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.
Fargo Police Department starts at $68,494 a year — about $32.93 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,810 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $354 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Fargo, ND-MN run about 9% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,375 would somewhere at average prices — $6,881 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 isFargo Police Department reported 185 sworn officers and 25 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 138,990.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. 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 Fargo says about itself
The mission of the Fargo Police Department is to provide the highest level of service through community partnerships, being a well-trained police department, and forward thinking policing to improve the quality of life for all.
What Fargo does
Fargo Police Officers perform general municipal policing functions to protect lives and property. Official City materials identify patrol, traffic enforcement and investigative duties, with officers assigned throughout the City and eligible for crime-prevention, investigations, school-resource and other assignments after entry
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Fargo offici — open the source document
Opened 23 June 2026 for the January 2027 academy; official salary minimum $32.93/hour = $68,494.40 annually. Applicants may enter without prior sworn service and proceed through the Fargo Police Academy. Lateral placement, incentives, overtime and differentials are excluded
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 Fargo 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. Fargo starts at $68,494, so $354 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fargo Police Department officer make?
Fargo Police Department starts a new officer on $68,494 a year, about $32.93 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 City of Fargo offici.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Dakota?
It ranks #4 of 12 agencies we have verified in North Dakota — 8 pay less, 3 pay more in the state — and #1,019 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,810 above, and against other municipal agencies $354 above.
Compare with another department
Put Fargo Police 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 ND
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Fargo | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McKenzie County Sheriff's Office | County | 39 | $75,785 | +$7,291 | #643 |
| 2 | North Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 165 | $73,332 | +$4,838 | #743 |
| 3 | Grand Forks Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $69,326 | +$832 | #971 |
| 5 | North Dakota Game and Fish Department — Enforcement Division | State | — | $65,808 | −$2,686 | #1,200 |
| 6 | Williston Police Department | Municipal | 64 | $65,520 | −$2,974 | #1,219 |
| 7 | West Fargo Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $64,376 | −$4,118 | #1,295 |
| 8 | Bismarck Police Department | Municipal | 128 | $63,123 | −$5,372 | #1,375 |
| 9 | Richland County Sheriff's Office | County | 18 | $62,213 | −$6,282 | #1,437 |
| 10 | Mountrail County Sheriff's Office | County | 11 | $62,100 | −$6,394 | #1,441 |
| 11 | Dickinson Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $60,345 | −$8,149 | #1,544 |
| 12 | Burleigh County Sheriff's Office | County | 56 | $56,576 | −$11,918 | #1,771 |
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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