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Livingston 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.
Livingston Police Department starts at $62,270 a year — about $29.94 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,120 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $8,994 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Montana run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,793 would somewhere at average prices — $3,523 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 isLivingston Police Department reported 16 sworn officers and 10 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 9,161.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 Livingston says about itself
The mission of the Livingston Police Department is to serve our community through professional, ethical policing—protecting life, preserving peace, safeguarding property, and upholding the law. DESCRIPTION: The Livingston Police Department provides 24-hour patrol and proactive law-enforcement services. Its mission is to protect life, preserve peace, safeguard property and uphold the law through professional, ethical policing.
What Livingston does
Livingston Patrol Officers perform law enforcement including patrol, preservation of the peace, investigations, traffic control and specialized assignments, respond to calls for assistance and locate and apprehend offenders. The City recruits entry-level through lateral candidates and requires Montana POST certification within one year of hire.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Livingston / Livingston Police Department Employees Association Collective Bargaining Agreement, FY27 wage schedule — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 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.
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How this level compares
Where Livingston 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. Livingston starts at $62,270, so $9,017 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Livingston Police Department officer make?
Livingston Police Department starts a new officer on $62,270 a year, about $29.94 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 Livingston / Livingston Police Department Employees Association Collective Bargaining Agreement, FY27 wage schedule.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Montana?
It ranks #17 of 23 agencies we have verified in Montana — 6 pay less, 16 pay more in the state — and #1,143 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,120 below, and against other municipal agencies $8,994 below.
Compare with another department
Put Livingston 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 MT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Livingston | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missoula Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $95,326 | +$33,056 | #142 |
| 2 | Bozeman Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $79,581 | +$17,311 | #416 |
| 3 | Gallatin County Sheriff's Office | County | 72 | $79,456 | +$17,186 | #421 |
| 4 | Kalispell Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $79,334 | +$17,064 | #424 |
| 5 | Missoula County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $77,563 | +$15,293 | #468 |
| 6 | Great Falls Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $76,253 | +$13,983 | #504 |
| 7 | Cascade County Sheriff's Office | County | 43 | $73,778 | +$11,508 | #603 |
| 8 | Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office | County | 65 | $72,800 | +$10,530 | #637 |
| 9 | Belgrade Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $71,761 | +$9,491 | #682 |
| 10 | Montana Highway Patrol | State | 225 | $71,240 | +$8,970 | #712 |
| 11 | Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office | County | 54 | $69,285 | +$7,015 | #799 |
| 12 | Billings Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $69,056 | +$6,786 | #812 |
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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