Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,260
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$13,730
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,256
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$66,990
Kept after tax
$53,260
Worth in national money
$58,256
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Idaho pays this job a middle wage of $66,990, 35 of 51 states and about 12.1% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 143 among 476 occupations Idaho publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $66,990 you keep $53,260 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $58,256 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $70,860, since top earners drag the number up.
- Idaho's $66,990 median for police and sheriff's patrol officers places it 35 of 51 states, about 12.1% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 143 of 476 in Idaho places police and sheriff's patrol officers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $53,260 after the full tax stack, from $66,990. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $58,256 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $70,860 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,980 |
| This salary | $66,990 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Idaho | $53,260 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,957 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$672 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $63,572 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$928 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of police and sheriff's patrol officers in Idaho earn under $66,990 and half over. The published range runs $48,840 at the tenth percentile to $97,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $53,260 take-home in Idaho comes from $66,990. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 143 of 476.
- Two cautions on $58,256, the adjusted value of that $66,990 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Idaho. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 143 of 476 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,840 to $97,980; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $53,260, from $66,990, assumes a single Idaho filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 143 of 476 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 51 for it.
- This $58,256 adjusted figure, worked from $66,990, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 143 of 476 in the state. The occupation ranks 143 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $70,860, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,840 and the top tenth $97,980 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $58,256.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Idaho then takes its own share, leaving $53,260.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Idaho is $70,860. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,840) and the ninetieth ($97,980) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $58,256 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $53,260 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.