Home › Police pay › South Carolina › Charleston County Sheriff's Office
Charleston 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.
Charleston County Sheriff's Office starts at $54,475 a year — about $26.19 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,915 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $10,899 below the median for county agencies.
What Charleston County says about itself
To serve our community by helping to provide a safe environment for citizens to live, work, and raise families, and enhance their quality of life by providing excellent law enforcement services, and always seeking to promote mutual trust and respect.
What Charleston County does
Charleston County Sheriff's Office describes itself as one of South Carolina's largest full-service sheriff's offices, serving a complex and diverse population. Its operations include patrol and traffic, investigations, school resource officers, community engagement, judicial security and enforcement and detention, with accreditation reflecting its commitment to improving law-enforcement service.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Charleston County Government official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff — open the source document
Current open-until-filled entry recruitment; official posting states “No prior experience? No problem,” provides training, and lists hiring salary range $54,475–$63,606; minimum/base used
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 Charleston 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. Charleston County starts at $54,475, so $10,899 below the county middle.
How it ranks
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
Common questions
How much does a Charleston County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Charleston County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $54,475 a year, about $26.19 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 Charleston County Government official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff.
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Carolina?
It ranks #8 of 16 agencies we have verified in South Carolina — 8 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #1,454 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,915 below, and against other county agencies $10,899 below.
Compare with another department
Put Charleston 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 Charleston | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $66,747 | +$12,272 | #935 |
| 2 | South Carolina Highway Patrol | State | 1,004 | $60,761 | +$6,286 | #1,205 |
| 3 | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 98 | $60,000 | +$5,525 | #1,244 |
| 4 | Greenville County Sheriff's Office | County | 576 | $59,273 | +$4,798 | #1,277 |
| 5 | Greenville Police Department | Municipal | 219 | $57,353 | +$2,878 | #1,364 |
| 6 | University of South Carolina Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 6 | $56,696 | +$2,221 | #1,379 |
| 7 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 305 | $54,878 | +$403 | #1,442 |
| 9 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $54,122 | −$353 | #1,460 |
| 10 | Lexington County Sheriff's Department | County | 296 | $53,351 | −$1,124 | #1,489 |
| 11 | Horry County Police Department | County | 87 | $53,022 | −$1,453 | #1,496 |
| 12 | Beaufort County Sheriff's Office | County | 212 | $50,107 | −$4,368 | #1,560 |
| 13 | Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office | County | 333 | $49,942 | −$4,533 | #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.
Scan to install
