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Traverse 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.
Traverse County Sheriff's Office starts at $64,459 a year — about $30.99 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,931 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $915 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in rural Minnesota run about 14% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,082 would somewhere at average prices — $10,623 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 58 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. Based on price levels for the non-metropolitan part of this state, because this agency is outside every 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 isTraverse County Sheriff's Office reported 6 sworn officers and 9 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 Traverse County
Traverse County Sheriff's Office serves Minnesota's least populous county — around 3,900 people across fifteen townships and four municipalities in the west-central farmland — from Wheaton. It provides policing to all the townships and to the cities of Dumont, Tintah and Browns Valley, covering general patrol, investigations, boat and water safety enforcement, court security and civil process. The office is staffed by five full-time deputies and a chief administrative deputy. Its Law Enforcement Center and jail opened in July 2007, housing up to eleven inmates alongside a 911 dispatch center run by a jail administrator with six full-time and four part-time communications and corrections officers, staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training official job posting — — open the source document
Current 2026 posting; open until filled; $30.99-$42.90
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 Traverse 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 | $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. Traverse County starts at $64,459, so $915 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Traverse County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Traverse County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $64,459 a year, about $30.99 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 Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training official job posting —.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Minnesota?
It ranks #95 of 100 agencies we have verified in Minnesota — 5 pay less, 94 pay more in the state — and #1,042 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,931 below, and against other county agencies $915 below.
Compare with another department
Put Traverse 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 MN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Traverse | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blaine Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $101,733 | +$37,274 | #86 |
| 2 | Stillwater Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $94,328 | +$29,869 | #152 |
| 3 | Columbia Heights Police Department | Municipal | 29 | $93,725 | +$29,266 | #157 |
| 4 | Carver County Sheriff's Office | County | 77 | $93,683 | +$29,224 | #158 |
| 5 | Oakdale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $93,538 | +$29,078 | #161 |
| 6 | Richfield Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,226 | +$28,766 | #163 |
| 7 | Maplewood Police Department | Municipal | 56 | $93,038 | +$28,579 | #167 |
| 8 | Forest Lake Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $92,789 | +$28,330 | #169 |
| 9 | Apple Valley Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $92,768 | +$28,309 | #170 |
| 10 | Coon Rapids Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $92,123 | +$27,664 | #179 |
| 11 | Saint Paul Police Department | Municipal | 562 | $91,291 | +$26,832 | #188 |
| 12 | Woodbury Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $91,187 | +$26,728 | #190 |
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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