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Yankton 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.
Yankton Police Department starts at $58,253 a year — about $28.01 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,432 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $9,887 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in South Dakota run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,759 would somewhere at average prices — $7,506 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 68 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 isYankton Police Department reported 30 sworn officers and 1 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 15,732.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 Yankton says about itself
Yankton Police Officers work hard at delivering exceptional services by partnering with the community to provide a safe and secure city. The Administrative Division is tasked with ensuring that a high standard of professionalism and excellence in law enforcement continues to exist within the Yankton Police Department.
What Yankton does
Yankton Police Department provides municipal law-enforcement service through Police Officers and specialized officer classifications including School Resource Officer and K-9 Officer.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Yankton Police 2026 Salary Range Per Job Class — open the source document
Current official City schedule lists Police Officer Range 38 minimum at $58,253 and maximum at $84,129. The published minimum is used. Class: Police Officer. Trainee class: Current City Police salary schedule identifies Police Officer as the entry rank; no lower recruit/cadet classification is shown in the 2026 Police salary-range table. City 2026 Police salary schedule classifies Police Officer within the municipal Police Department.
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 Yankton 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 | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| 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 $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Yankton starts at $58,253, so $9,887 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Yankton Police Department officer make?
Yankton Police Department starts a new officer on $58,253 a year, about $28.01 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 Yankton Police 2026 Salary Range Per Job Class.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Dakota?
It ranks #10 of 18 agencies we have verified in South Dakota — 8 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #1,659 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,432 below, and against other municipal agencies $9,887 below.
Compare with another department
Put Yankton 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 Yankton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sioux Falls Police Department | Municipal | 284 | $72,030 | +$13,777 | #810 |
| 2 | Rapid City Police Department | Municipal | 157 | $70,491 | +$12,238 | #907 |
| 3 | Spearfish Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $68,307 | +$10,054 | #1,035 |
| 4 | Pierre Police Department | Municipal | 20 | $68,307 | +$10,054 | #1,036 |
| 5 | Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $66,893 | +$8,640 | #1,128 |
| 6 | South Dakota Highway Patrol | State | 150 | $64,251 | +$5,998 | #1,306 |
| 7 | Mitchell Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $63,492 | +$5,239 | #1,350 |
| 8 | Pennington County Sheriff's Office | County | 217 | $63,357 | +$5,104 | #1,361 |
| 9 | Aberdeen Police Department | Municipal | 54 | $62,587 | +$4,334 | #1,404 |
| 11 | Edmunds County Sheriff's Office | County | 8 | $58,136 | −$117 | #1,668 |
| 12 | Vermillion Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $57,491 | −$762 | #1,728 |
| 13 | Brown County Sheriff's Office | County | 21 | $55,578 | −$2,675 | #1,816 |
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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