Home › Police pay › Iowa › Des Moines County Sheriff's Office
Des Moines 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.
Des Moines County Sheriff's Office starts at $55,000 a year — about $26.44 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,390 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $10,374 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in rural Iowa run about 16% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $65,416 would somewhere at average prices — $10,416 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 51 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for the non-metropolitan part of this state, because this agency is outside every 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 isDes Moines County Sheriff's Office reported 23 sworn officers and 28 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 Des Moines County says about itself
The fundamental duty and ultimate mission of the Des Moines County Sheriff's Office is to serve and protect the citizens of Des Moines County with fairness, compassion, and respect. We demand excellence in our law enforcement personnel, stressing professionalism, integrity, and timeliness, so that the citizens we serve may feel safe and secure within the boundaries of our county.
What Des Moines County does
The Des Moines County Sheriff's Office states that its mission is to serve and protect county citizens with fairness, compassion and respect, emphasizing professionalism, integrity and timely law-enforcement service. Deputy hiring is overseen by the County Civil Service Commission
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Des Moines County 2025 Deputy recruitment and current Deputy Sheriff Hiring Process — open the source document
The official 2025 Deputy recruitment listed $55,000-$79,079. The current Sheriff's hiring-process page confirms that certification is not a general minimum and says certified Iowa law-enforcement officers receive a separate hiring incentive. The $55,000 minimum is retained as a weak but official employer source because the recruitment is closed Des Moines County's Civil Service Commission tests applicants for Deputy Sheriff under Iowa Code Chapter 341A. The Sheriff's hiring process applies Iowa law-enforcement minimum standards and separately provides incentives/elevated pay to already-certified officers
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.
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.
How this level compares
Where Des Moines 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. Des Moines County starts at $55,000, so $10,374 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Des Moines County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Des Moines County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $55,000 a year, about $26.44 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 Des Moines County 2025 Deputy recruitment and current Deputy Sheriff Hiring Process.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Iowa?
It ranks #28 of 28 agencies we have verified in Iowa — 0 pay less, 27 pay more in the state — and #1,429 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,390 below, and against other county agencies $10,374 below.
Compare with another department
Put Des Moines 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 IA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Des | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa County Sheriff's Office | County | 14 | $85,550 | +$30,550 | #281 |
| 2 | Des Moines Police Department | Municipal | 367 | $84,635 | +$29,635 | #297 |
| 3 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $76,710 | +$21,710 | #486 |
| 4 | Ankeny Police Department | Municipal | 78 | $76,648 | +$21,648 | #491 |
| 5 | Urbandale Police Department | Municipal | 58 | $76,028 | +$21,028 | #516 |
| 6 | Woodbury County Sheriff's Office | County | 44 | $73,944 | +$18,944 | #597 |
| 7 | Linn County Sheriff's Office | County | 120 | $73,216 | +$18,216 | #616 |
| 8 | Chickasaw County Sheriff's Office | County | 10 | $71,822 | +$16,822 | #678 |
| 9 | Mason City Police Department | Municipal | 40 | $71,448 | +$16,448 | #698 |
| 10 | Johnson County Sheriff's Office | County | 81 | $70,871 | +$15,871 | #732 |
| 11 | Iowa Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Law Enforcement | State | — | $70,574 | +$15,574 | #742 |
| 12 | Davenport Police Department | Municipal | 143 | $70,322 | +$15,322 | #752 |
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
