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Whitefish 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.
Whitefish Police Department starts at $63,440 a year — about $30.50 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,950 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $7,824 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Montana run about 5% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $67,029 would somewhere at average prices — $3,589 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 72 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 isWhitefish Police Department reported 18 sworn officers and 3 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 9,640.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 Whitefish says about itself
The Whitefish Police Department's mission is to promote public safety with dedication, integrity, and public input to improve the quality of life for our citizens.
What Whitefish does
Whitefish Police Officer III performs routine municipal law-enforcement work, enforces criminal and traffic laws, patrols assigned areas, serves warrants, makes arrests, investigates crimes and accidents and prepares cases for court. The position receives field training and works under a higher-ranking officer.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Whitefish employer-specific GovernmentJobs Police Officer III bulletin, Job 2026-0014 — open the source document
Their source is effective 31 March 2026.
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.
How this level compares
Where Whitefish 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. Whitefish starts at $63,440, so $7,847 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Whitefish Police Department officer make?
Whitefish Police Department starts a new officer on $63,440 a year, about $30.50 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 City of Whitefish employer-specific GovernmentJobs Police Officer III bulletin, Job 2026-0014.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Montana?
It ranks #16 of 23 agencies we have verified in Montana — 7 pay less, 15 pay more in the state — and #1,085 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,950 below, and against other municipal agencies $7,824 below.
Compare with another department
Put Whitefish 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 MT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Whitefish | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missoula Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $95,326 | +$31,886 | #142 |
| 2 | Bozeman Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $79,581 | +$16,141 | #416 |
| 3 | Gallatin County Sheriff's Office | County | 72 | $79,456 | +$16,016 | #421 |
| 4 | Kalispell Police Department | Municipal | 52 | $79,334 | +$15,894 | #424 |
| 5 | Missoula County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $77,563 | +$14,123 | #468 |
| 6 | Great Falls Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $76,253 | +$12,813 | #504 |
| 7 | Cascade County Sheriff's Office | County | 43 | $73,778 | +$10,338 | #603 |
| 8 | Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office | County | 65 | $72,800 | +$9,360 | #637 |
| 9 | Belgrade Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $71,761 | +$8,321 | #682 |
| 10 | Montana Highway Patrol | State | 225 | $71,240 | +$7,800 | #712 |
| 11 | Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office | County | 54 | $69,285 | +$5,845 | #799 |
| 12 | Billings Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $69,056 | +$5,616 | #812 |
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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