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Beaufort 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.
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office starts at $50,107 a year — about $24.09 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $18,283 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $15,267 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $51,121 would somewhere at average prices — $1,014 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 88, where goods are 96. 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 isBeaufort County Sheriff's Office reported 212 sworn officers and 97 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 Beaufort County
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office holds international, national and state accreditation — CALEA, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation programme and the ANSI National Accreditation Board — covering law enforcement, its 9-1-1 communications center and its Forensic Services Laboratory, which provides DNA and controlled-substance analysis for local and surrounding agencies. Its evidence section handles about 15,000 items a year
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Beaufort County Class 3 Advanced Magistrate Court Security Officer job bulletin — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 December 2025.
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 Beaufort 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. Beaufort County starts at $50,107, so $15,267 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $50,107 a year, about $24.09 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 Beaufort County Class 3 Advanced Magistrate Court Security Officer job bulletin.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Carolina?
It ranks #12 of 16 agencies we have verified in South Carolina — 4 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #1,560 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $18,283 below, and against other county agencies $15,267 below.
Compare with another department
Put Beaufort 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 SC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Beaufort | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $66,747 | +$16,640 | #935 |
| 2 | South Carolina Highway Patrol | State | 1,004 | $60,761 | +$10,654 | #1,205 |
| 3 | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 98 | $60,000 | +$9,893 | #1,244 |
| 4 | Greenville County Sheriff's Office | County | 576 | $59,273 | +$9,166 | #1,277 |
| 5 | Greenville Police Department | Municipal | 219 | $57,353 | +$7,246 | #1,364 |
| 6 | University of South Carolina Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 6 | $56,696 | +$6,589 | #1,379 |
| 7 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 305 | $54,878 | +$4,771 | #1,442 |
| 8 | Charleston County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $54,475 | +$4,368 | #1,454 |
| 9 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $54,122 | +$4,014 | #1,460 |
| 10 | Lexington County Sheriff's Department | County | 296 | $53,351 | +$3,244 | #1,489 |
| 11 | Horry County Police Department | County | 87 | $53,022 | +$2,915 | #1,496 |
| 13 | Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office | County | 333 | $49,942 | −$165 | #1,570 |
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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