Home › Police pay › South Dakota › Rapid City Police Department
Rapid City 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.
Rapid City Police Department starts at $66,456 a year — about $31.95 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,934 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $4,808 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Rapid City, SD run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $74,536 would somewhere at average prices — $8,080 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 73 against a national average of 100, where goods are 95. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isRapid City Police Department reported 157 sworn officers and 38 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 81,185.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 Rapid City says about itself
We are one of the most progressive law enforcement agencies in the region, and the only internationally accredited police department in South Dakota.
What Rapid City does
The Rapid City Police Department describes itself as a growing agency with field services, criminal investigations and support services. It emphasizes proactive programs, community safety, and extensive recruit and Police Training Officer training.
Rapid City’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Patrol officers enjoy a 4 day (10 hour shift) work week. Officers work a 40-hour week, and are paid overtime for work outside their normal shift.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
WorkingOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
Rapid City publishes the days on and off but not which are days and which are nights. In BlueShifts you choose that yourself — every shift can be a day, a night or a 24-hour tour, and the calendar marks it with a sun, a moon or a clock.
Four tens gives the same three days off every week - the simplest line to plan around. BlueShifts still tracks the overtime worked outside the normal shift alongside it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Rapid City Police Officer I, II employer posting on the City's GovernmentJobs applicant-tracking system — open the source document
Their source is effective 31 January 2025.
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 Rapid City 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. Rapid City starts at $66,456, so $4,831 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Rapid City Police Department officer make?
Rapid City Police Department starts a new officer on $66,456 a year, about $31.95 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 Rapid City Police Officer I, II employer posting on the City's GovernmentJobs applicant-tracking system.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Dakota?
It ranks #5 of 9 agencies we have verified in South Dakota — 4 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #950 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,934 below, and against other municipal agencies $4,808 below.
What shifts do Rapid City Police Department officers work?
Patrol officers enjoy a 4 day (10 hour shift) work week. Officers work a 40-hour week, and are paid overtime for work outside their normal shift. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Rapid City 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 Rapid | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sioux Falls Police Department | Municipal | 284 | $72,030 | +$5,574 | #664 |
| 2 | Spearfish Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $68,307 | +$1,851 | #846 |
| 3 | Pierre Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $68,307 | +$1,851 | #847 |
| 4 | Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $66,893 | +$437 | #923 |
| 6 | South Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 150 | $64,251 | −$2,205 | #1,053 |
| 7 | Pennington County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $63,357 | −$3,099 | #1,092 |
| 8 | Yankton Police Department | Municipal | 30 | $58,253 | −$8,203 | #1,306 |
| 9 | Brown County Sheriff's Office | County | 21 | $55,578 | −$10,878 | #1,408 |
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
