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Mountrail 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.
Mountrail County Sheriff's Office starts at $62,100 a year — about $29.86 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,585 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,460 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in North Dakota run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $69,807 would somewhere at average prices — $7,707 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 71 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 isMountrail County Sheriff's Office reported 11 sworn officers and 13 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.
About Mountrail County
The Mountrail County Sheriff's Office polices Mountrail County in northwestern North Dakota, 1,941 square miles of the Bakken oil country with a population of about 9,800, from the courthouse at 101 North Main Street in Stanley. The county seat is Stanley and its largest city is New Town, and the county is home to the headquarters of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. The Sheriff is Corey Bristol. Alongside patrol the office runs the county's 911 communications center and the Mountrail County Correctional Center, and its deputies serve civil papers, provide security in the county courts, carry out search and rescue, and investigate crimes across the county.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. Mountrail County Sheriff's Department, Sheriff's Deputy posting on the County's own applicant portal (mountrailcnd.hireclick.com), linked from co.mountrail.nd.us employment page — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 live from the County's own recruiting portal: 'Salary range of $62,100-74,688 DOE', with the bottom of that range recorded here as the entry rate. The County states the measure itself in the same paragraph - 'No experience necessary and we'll pay the cost of your training to become ND P.O.S.T. Board licensed' - so this is an uncertified entry rate and the top of the range is the depending-on-experience figure, excluded. Confirmed against the County's own Sheriff's Deputy application packet dated June 2026 on co.mountrail.nd.us, which requires only a high school diploma or equivalent, a valid driver's license and the ability to become licensed by the North Dakota P.O.S.T. Board, and asks applicants whether they are currently licensed rather than requiring it. The County's earlier posting of the same job priced the range at $60,750-$73,064, so the current figure is a raise on it. All equipment, uniforms and a vehicle are provided, family health insurance is fully paid, and a deputy must live in or move to Mountrail County.
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 Mountrail 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. Mountrail County starts at $62,100, so $1,465 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Mountrail County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Mountrail County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $62,100 a year, about $29.86 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 Mountrail County Sheriff's Department, Sheriff's Deputy posting on the County's own applicant portal (mountrailcnd.hireclick.com), linked from co.mountrail.nd.us employment page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Dakota?
It ranks #10 of 12 agencies we have verified in North Dakota — 2 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #1,441 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,585 below, and against other county agencies $1,460 below.
Compare with another department
Put Mountrail 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 ND
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Mountrail | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McKenzie County Sheriff's Office | County | 39 | $75,785 | +$13,685 | #643 |
| 2 | North Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 165 | $73,332 | +$11,232 | #743 |
| 3 | Grand Forks Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $69,326 | +$7,226 | #971 |
| 4 | Fargo Police Department | Municipal | 185 | $68,494 | +$6,394 | #1,019 |
| 5 | North Dakota Game and Fish Department — Enforcement Division | State | — | $65,808 | +$3,708 | #1,200 |
| 6 | Williston Police Department | Municipal | 64 | $65,520 | +$3,420 | #1,219 |
| 7 | West Fargo Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $64,376 | +$2,276 | #1,295 |
| 8 | Bismarck Police Department | Municipal | 128 | $63,123 | +$1,023 | #1,375 |
| 9 | Richland County Sheriff's Office | County | 18 | $62,213 | +$113 | #1,437 |
| 11 | Dickinson Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $60,345 | −$1,755 | #1,544 |
| 12 | Burleigh County Sheriff's Office | County | 56 | $56,576 | −$5,524 | #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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