Home › Police pay › Wyoming › Sheridan Police Department
Sheridan 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.
Sheridan Police Department starts at $64,748 a year — about $31.13 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,642 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $6,516 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wyoming run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $69,854 would somewhere at average prices — $5,106 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 71 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 isSheridan Police Department reported 28 sworn officers and 15 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 20,083.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 Sheridan
Sheridan Police Department is the main law enforcement agency in this northern Wyoming city at the eastern base of the Bighorn Mountains, with 30 sworn officers and 18 civilian employees. Its Patrol Operations Bureau is the primary way the department serves the city: an operations bureau lieutenant supervises four patrol shift sergeants, and the division runs on a twenty-four hour basis — Sheridan PD is the only 24-hour law enforcement agency in Sheridan County. A Support Services Bureau holds school resource officers, community service officers and detectives. Officers can expand their careers through criminal investigations, field training, K-9, school resource work, firearms, custody and control and less-lethal programmes, and the department has published a five-year master plan as a blueprint for its growth.
Shifts at Sheridan
Sheridan's patrol division runs 24 hours a day under four shift sergeants, and the city states that patrol officers work approximately 1,040 hours a year eligible for the shift differential.
When a thousand of your hours a year carry a differential, it matters which shifts you actually worked. BlueShifts keeps the record, and its off-duty statistical calculator turns it into a figure you can check.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Sheridan Police Careers / Employment — open the source document
Current City page publishes Entry Level at $31.13/hour / $64,748 annual and identifies Temporary Peace Officer at $64,748, Basic Peace Officer Certification at $68,047, and higher certified levels. The published entry-level Police Officer figure is used. Class: Police Officer / Temporary Peace Officer. Trainee class: YES, City entry-level structure begins at Temporary Peace Officer before Basic Peace Officer certification. City Police careers page identifies the position as Police Officer and lists Wyoming Peace Officer certification levels.
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 Sheridan 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. Sheridan starts at $64,748, so $6,539 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Sheridan Police Department officer make?
Sheridan Police Department starts a new officer on $64,748 a year, about $31.13 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 Sheridan Police Careers / Employment.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wyoming?
It ranks #5 of 11 agencies we have verified in Wyoming — 6 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #1,035 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,642 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,516 below.
What shifts do Sheridan Police Department officers work?
Sheridan's patrol division runs 24 hours a day under four shift sergeants, and the city states that patrol officers work approximately 1,040 hours a year eligible for the shift differential. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Sheridan 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 WY
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Sheridan | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming Highway Patrol | State | 194 | $68,619 | +$3,871 | #830 |
| 2 | Converse County Sheriff's Office | County | 24 | $67,111 | +$2,363 | #911 |
| 3 | Gillette Police Department | Municipal | 62 | $66,560 | +$1,812 | #944 |
| 4 | Campbell County Sheriff's Office | County | 56 | $65,832 | +$1,084 | #976 |
| 6 | Laramie Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $64,329 | −$419 | #1,050 |
| 7 | Green River Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $62,962 | −$1,786 | #1,115 |
| 8 | Casper Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $62,670 | −$2,078 | #1,120 |
| 9 | Cheyenne Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $62,500 | −$2,248 | #1,132 |
| 10 | Wyoming Game and Fish Department — Law Enforcement / Game Wardens | State | — | $56,422 | −$8,326 | #1,386 |
| 11 | Laramie County Sheriff's Department | County | 56 | $54,080 | −$10,668 | #1,464 |
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
