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Lincoln 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.
Lincoln County Sheriff's Office starts at $55,453 a year — about $26.66 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,232 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $8,107 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Montana run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $58,590 would somewhere at average prices — $3,138 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 72 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isLincoln County Sheriff's Office reported 20 sworn officers and 22 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 Lincoln County says about itself
We are proud of our commitment to being a trusted partner in the Lincoln County community, dedicated to ensuring that our county remains a safe place to live, work, and visit, by providing professional law enforcement services to our fellow citizens.
What Lincoln County does
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office polices the far northwest corner of Montana - the Kootenai valley and the Purcell and Cabinet mountains between Idaho and the Canadian border - from Libby, with deputies stationed as far north as Eureka. It runs patrol, investigations, a drug task force, animal control and the county detention center, and its deputies must live in the part of the county they are assigned to.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 22 September 2026. Lincoln County Montana Human Resources, Current Job Openings: "POSITION AVAILABLE: Lincoln County has a job opening for a full-time Deputy; Sworn." ... "WAGE: $26.66 After 1 Year $27.33." — open the source document
$55,452.80 is $26.66 an hour x 2,080; the County states the hourly rate and the hours - "HOURS: (40 HRS PER WEEK)" - so only the multiplication is mine. THE COUNTY CALLS THE POSITION "Deputy; Sworn" IN TERMS, which settles the question this roster usually has to argue: it is the sworn deputy's rate, not a detention or dispatch one, and the description puts the post "Under the general guidance and direction of the Undersheriff and Sheriff" enforcing "federal, state, and local laws". No recruit, cadet, trainee or academy rate is named, and the only other figure attached to the class is the twelve-month step: "After 1 Year $27.33". Excluded from the figure: that step and everything above it, which the County does not publish. THE POST IS TIED TO A PLACE: "Must reside in Lincoln County, Eureka Area", Eureka being the far north of the county near the Canadian border while the courthouse is at Libby. MONTANA PRICES DEPUTIES AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE SHERIFF, WHICH IS WHY A FIGURE LIKE THIS IS WORTH HAVING. Under 7-4-2508(2), MCA the sheriff sets deputy compensation within a band of the sheriff's own salary, and the band is fixed by county population - 76% to 97% for a county of 15,000 to 29,999, which is Lincoln's. So most Montana counties publish no deputy salary schedule at all; the rate exists as a percentage and surfaces only when a post is advertised. THE POSTING CARRIES NO DATE. It is on the County's live Current Job Openings page, closing date "Open until Filled", alongside a library post priced the same way.
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 Lincoln 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 | $68,140 | $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. Lincoln County starts at $55,453, so $8,112 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lincoln County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Lincoln County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $55,453 a year, about $26.66 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 Lincoln County Montana Human Resources, Current Job Openings: "POSITION AVAILABLE: Lincoln County has a job opening for a full-time Deputy; Sworn." ... "WAGE: $26.66 After 1 Year $27.33.".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Montana?
It ranks #22 of 25 agencies we have verified in Montana — 3 pay less, 21 pay more in the state — and #1,823 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,232 below, and against other county agencies $8,107 below.
Compare with another department
Put Lincoln 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 Lincoln | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missoula Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $95,326 | +$39,874 | #180 |
| 2 | Bozeman Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $79,581 | +$24,128 | #504 |
| 3 | Gallatin County Sheriff's Office | County | 72 | $79,456 | +$24,003 | #511 |
| 4 | Kalispell Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $79,334 | +$23,881 | #514 |
| 5 | Missoula County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $77,563 | +$22,110 | #570 |
| 6 | Great Falls Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $76,253 | +$20,800 | #613 |
| 7 | Cascade County Sheriff's Office | County | 43 | $73,778 | +$18,325 | #727 |
| 8 | Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office | County | 65 | $72,800 | +$17,347 | #774 |
| 9 | Belgrade Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $71,761 | +$16,308 | #831 |
| 10 | Montana Highway Patrol | State | 225 | $71,240 | +$15,787 | #862 |
| 11 | Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office | County | 54 | $69,285 | +$13,832 | #973 |
| 12 | Billings Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $69,056 | +$13,603 | #988 |
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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