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Lewis and Clark 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.
Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office starts at $69,285 a year — about $33.31 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $895 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $3,910 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Helena, MT run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $72,417 would somewhere at average prices — $3,132 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 73 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 isLewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office reported 54 sworn officers and 50 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 Lewis and Clark County says about itself
Dedicated to providing professional law enforcement services in partnership with the community.
What Lewis and Clark County does
Lewis and Clark County states that its Deputy Sheriffs are the front line of law enforcement throughout the county. These sworn peace officers patrol assigned areas, respond to emergency calls, investigate crimes, make arrests, execute warrants, assist with traffic enforcement and perform community and court-related duties
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office Pay and Benefits page; county deputy bargaining agreement identifies new hires without qualifying prior experience as Probationary Deputy I — open the source document
Their source is effective 9 August 2026.
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.
How this level compares
Where Lewis and Clark 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. Lewis and Clark County starts at $69,285, so $3,911 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $69,285 a year, about $33.31 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 Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office Pay and Benefits page; county deputy bargaining agreement identifies new hires without qualifying prior experience as Probationary Deputy I.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Montana?
It ranks #11 of 23 agencies we have verified in Montana — 12 pay less, 10 pay more in the state — and #799 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $895 above, and against other county agencies $3,910 above.
Compare with another department
Put Lewis and Clark 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 MT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lewis | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missoula Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $95,326 | +$26,042 | #142 |
| 2 | Bozeman Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $79,581 | +$10,296 | #416 |
| 3 | Gallatin County Sheriff's Office | County | 72 | $79,456 | +$10,171 | #421 |
| 4 | Kalispell Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $79,334 | +$10,049 | #424 |
| 5 | Missoula County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $77,563 | +$8,278 | #468 |
| 6 | Great Falls Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $76,253 | +$6,968 | #504 |
| 7 | Cascade County Sheriff's Office | County | 43 | $73,778 | +$4,493 | #603 |
| 8 | Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office | County | 65 | $72,800 | +$3,515 | #637 |
| 9 | Belgrade Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $71,761 | +$2,476 | #682 |
| 10 | Montana Highway Patrol | State | 225 | $71,240 | +$1,955 | #712 |
| 12 | Billings Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $69,056 | −$229 | #812 |
| 13 | Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department | Municipal | — | $67,648 | −$1,637 | #882 |
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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