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Benton 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.
Benton County Sheriff's Office starts at $77,064 a year — about $37.05 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,379 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $13,504 above the median for county agencies.
How big the department isBenton County Sheriff's Office reported 71 sworn officers and 15 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.
What Benton County says about itself
We, the Benton County Sheriff's Office, are committed to providing the highest quality law enforcement services to the people who live, work and visit our County. Our citizens will recognize the Benton County Sheriff's Office as a progressive leader and trusted community partner with a solid reputation for respecting and protecting individual rights while aggressively pursuing criminals and enforcing the law. The mission of the Benton County Sheriff's Office is to safeguard life and property, preserve the peace, prevent and detect crime, enforce the law, and protect the rights of all citizens, and all members are committed to working in partnership with our community to identify and resolve issues that impact public safety.
What Benton County does
Benton County Sheriff's Office provides patrol, investigations, corrections, civil, court-security, marine and search-and-rescue services. Official County materials emphasize professional law enforcement, public safety and responsive service to residents.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Benton County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff Entry Level — open the source document
$77,064. Current 2026 official entry-level recruitment; verified 8 August 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 Benton 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 | $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. Benton County starts at $77,064, so $13,499 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Benton County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Benton County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $77,064 a year, about $37.05 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 Benton County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff Entry Level.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Washington?
It ranks #71 of 92 agencies we have verified in Washington — 21 pay less, 70 pay more in the state — and #582 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,379 above, and against other county agencies $13,504 above.
Compare with another department
Put Benton 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 WA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Benton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Police Department | Municipal | 1,064 | $117,792 | +$40,728 | #38 |
| 2 | Redmond Police Department | Municipal | 81 | $110,435 | +$33,371 | #59 |
| 3 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $108,386 | +$31,322 | #68 |
| 4 | Lynnwood Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $106,371 | +$29,307 | #81 |
| 5 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 207 | $102,516 | +$25,452 | #106 |
| 6 | Vancouver Police Department | Municipal | 226 | $101,832 | +$24,768 | #110 |
| 7 | Kirkland Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $101,218 | +$24,154 | #118 |
| 8 | Tukwila Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $101,064 | +$24,000 | #120 |
| 9 | Bothell Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $101,055 | +$23,991 | #121 |
| 10 | Mount Vernon Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $100,836 | +$23,772 | #125 |
| 11 | Kennewick Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $100,104 | +$23,040 | #128 |
| 12 | Edmonds Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $99,168 | +$22,104 | #140 |
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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