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Sioux 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.
Sioux City Police Department starts at $64,346 a year — about $30.94 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,044 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $6,918 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Sioux City, IA-NE-SD run about 14% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $74,428 would somewhere at average prices — $10,082 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 58 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isSioux City Police Department reported 129 sworn officers and 25 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 87,125.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 Sioux City says about itself
Our nationally-accredited department is made up of 131 sworn officers and 25 civilian personnel. Our department mission emphasizes our ability to work in partnership with the community through community policing, outreach efforts, and establishing strong partnerships with the citizens we serve.
What Sioux City does
The nationally accredited Sioux City Police Department says it works to preserve law and order while emphasizing community policing, outreach and strong partnerships with the citizens it serves.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $64,346.26 annually. Official City recruitment expressly states the starting wage for an entry-level Police Officer is $64,346. — open the source document
Current 2026 entry-level recruitment; current labor agreement July 1, 2024-June 30, 2029 $64,346.26 annually. Official City recruitment expressly states the starting wage for an entry-level Police Officer is $64,346.26 and separately provides higher starting eligibility for experienced/certified officers or qualifying degree holders. The entry-level base is accepted.
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 Sioux 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. Sioux City starts at $64,346, so $6,941 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Sioux City Police Department officer make?
Sioux City Police Department starts a new officer on $64,346 a year, about $30.94 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 $64,346.26 annually. Official City recruitment expressly states the starting wage for an entry-level Police Officer is $64,346..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #26 of 28 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 2 pay less, 25 pay more in the state — and #1,048 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,044 below, and against other municipal agencies $6,918 below.
Compare with another department
Put Sioux 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 IA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Sioux | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$21,204 | #281 |
| 2 | Des Moines Police Department | Municipal | 367 | $84,635 | +$20,289 | #297 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | +$12,364 | #486 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | +$12,302 | #491 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | +$11,682 | #516 |
| 6 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | +$9,598 | #597 |
| 7 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | +$8,870 | #616 |
| 8 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | +$7,476 | #678 |
| 9 | Mason City Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $71,448 | +$7,102 | #698 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | +$6,525 | #732 |
| 11 | Iowa Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Law Enforcement | State | — | $70,574 | +$6,228 | #742 |
| 12 | Davenport Police Department | Municipal | 143 | $70,322 | +$5,976 | #752 |
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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