Home › Police pay › Idaho › Ponderay Police Department
Ponderay 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.
Ponderay Police Department starts at $57,200 a year — about $27.50 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,485 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,940 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Idaho run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $59,899 would somewhere at average prices — $2,699 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 70 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 isPonderay Police Department reported 7 sworn officers and 1 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 3.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 2,245.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 Ponderay says about itself
Since 1994, the Ponderay Police Department has existed to protect and to serve, a calling that we all take very seriously. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality of law enforcement services, and we value our partnership with our community. We aspire to earn and keep your trust every single day, and together, we pursue the vision of the City of Ponderay as having a big future. Our website has been built with our vision of community policing in mind: open and effective communication with our community has always been a priority for us here, and our ability to communicate with our community and keep them informed is one of the most important aspects of our mission.
What Ponderay does
The Ponderay Police Department states that since 1994 it has existed to protect and serve, takes that calling seriously, is dedicated to providing the highest quality law-enforcement services, and values its partnership with the community.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 14 August 2026. Ponderay Police Department — Patrol Officer — open the source document
Open Dates: 03/01/25 until POSITION FILLED | Class: Patrol Officer | Post-academy: the source does not distinguish | Latest durable official Ponderay PD Patrol Officer announcement located and reopened. It publishes $57,200-$64,480 ($27.50-$31.00/hour), depending on experience, and expressly encourages both Entry-level and Lateral applicants. The previously cited 2026 .doc could not be independently reopened through the official domain, so it is not used. Submitted $59,176 is not supported by the durable official posting.
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Ponderay 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. Ponderay starts at $57,200, so $10,940 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Ponderay Police Department officer make?
Ponderay Police Department starts a new officer on $57,200 a year, about $27.50 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 Ponderay Police Department — Patrol Officer.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Idaho?
It ranks #24 of 54 agencies we have verified in Idaho — 30 pay less, 23 pay more in the state — and #1,744 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,485 below, and against other municipal agencies $10,940 below.
Compare with another department
Put Ponderay 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 ID
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Ponderay | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun Valley Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $75,005 | +$17,805 | #675 |
| 2 | Blaine County Sheriff's Office | County | 20 | $74,526 | +$17,326 | #697 |
| 3 | Hailey Police Department | Municipal | — | $72,280 | +$15,080 | #797 |
| 4 | Boise Police Department | Municipal | 326 | $69,514 | +$12,314 | #965 |
| 5 | Meridian Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $67,621 | +$10,421 | #1,085 |
| 6 | Post Falls Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $67,330 | +$10,130 | #1,106 |
| 7 | Coeur d'Alene Police Department | Municipal | 94 | $66,872 | +$9,672 | #1,130 |
| 8 | Kootenai County Sheriff's Office | County | 104 | $65,291 | +$8,091 | #1,239 |
| 9 | Ada County Sheriff's Office | County | 220 | $64,896 | +$7,696 | #1,270 |
| 10 | Nampa Police Department | Municipal | 154 | $64,626 | +$7,426 | #1,286 |
| 11 | McCall Police Department | Municipal | 12 | $63,773 | +$6,573 | #1,332 |
| 12 | Moscow Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $63,544 | +$6,344 | #1,344 |
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.
Scan to install
