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Mitchell 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.
Mitchell Police Department starts at $63,492 a year — about $30.52 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,775 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $5,294 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in South Dakota run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $71,673 would somewhere at average prices — $8,181 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 isMitchell Police Department reported 26 sworn officers and 12 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 15,608.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.
About Mitchell
The Mitchell Police Department is the police division of the City of Mitchell's public safety department, staffed by patrol sergeants and patrol officers with an Emergency Response Unit. Its published activities include accident investigation, general criminal investigation, drug interdiction, traffic enforcement, bike, boat and foot patrol, crime prevention, DARE, a Citizens Police Academy and the South Central Alcohol Task Force. Its dispatch arm, the Mitchell Regional 911 Center, answers for the city and seven surrounding counties.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. City of Mitchell and Teamsters Local Union No. 120 (Mitchell Police Department) Agreement, 1 January 2026 - 31 December 2028, Exhibit A Wage Schedule and 2026 Compensation Plan — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the City's own three-year agreement with Teamsters Local 120, which covers all patrol officers, detectives and communication specialists in the Police Division. Exhibit A puts Police Officer at GRADE 17, and the 2026 Compensation Plan in the same exhibit sets Grade 17 step A at $63,492 a year. That matches the City's own advertised rate to the cent: $30.525 an hour for NEW officers, higher for currently certified applicants, which is $63,492.00 at 2,080 hours - so this is the uncertified entry rate, not a certified or lateral figure. The 2026 rates carry a 3% increase over 2025; 2027 and 2028 move with the July Midwest CPI-U within a 2% floor and 4% ceiling. No prior certification is required: the City hires officer candidates and sends them to the South Dakota Law Enforcement Training Center under the training agreement at Exhibit D of the same contract. Note on the self-description: the department publishes no force-wide mission statement on any of its own pages - Police Department, Investigations, Crime Prevention and Citizen's Police Academy were all read on 8 September 2026 and carry divisions, staff and activity lists only. The quote recorded is the one mission statement the department does publish, for its own Communications Division, and it is attributed as such.
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 Mitchell 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. Mitchell starts at $63,492, so $5,294 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Mitchell Police Department officer make?
Mitchell Police Department starts a new officer on $63,492 a year, about $30.52 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 Mitchell and Teamsters Local Union No. 120 (Mitchell Police Department) Agreement, 1 January 2026 - 31 December 2028, Exhibit A Wage Schedule and 2026 Compensation Plan.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Dakota?
It ranks #7 of 17 agencies we have verified in South Dakota — 10 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #1,240 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,775 below, and against other municipal agencies $5,294 below.
Compare with another department
Put Mitchell 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 SD
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Mitchell | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sioux Falls Police Department | Municipal | 284 | $72,030 | +$8,538 | #744 |
| 2 | Rapid City Police Department | Municipal | 157 | $70,491 | +$6,999 | #835 |
| 3 | Spearfish Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $68,307 | +$4,815 | #953 |
| 4 | Pierre Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $68,307 | +$4,815 | #954 |
| 5 | Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $66,893 | +$3,401 | #1,044 |
| 6 | South Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 150 | $64,251 | +$759 | #1,201 |
| 8 | Pennington County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $63,357 | −$135 | #1,250 |
| 9 | Aberdeen Police Department | Municipal | 54 | $62,587 | −$905 | #1,291 |
| 10 | Yankton Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $58,253 | −$5,239 | #1,512 |
| 11 | Edmunds County Sheriff's Office | County | 8 | $58,136 | −$5,356 | #1,520 |
| 12 | Brown County Sheriff's Office | County | 21 | $55,578 | −$7,914 | #1,645 |
| 13 | Union County Sheriff's Office | County | 13 | $55,120 | −$8,372 | #1,670 |
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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