Home › Police pay › Colorado › El Paso County Sheriff's Office
El Paso 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.
El Paso County Sheriff's Office starts at $75,735 a year — about $36.41 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,345 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $10,361 above the median for county agencies.
How big the department isEl Paso County Sheriff's Office reported 564 sworn officers and 307 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 El Paso County says about itself
Our mission is to provide the citizens of El Paso County effective and efficient public safety services.
What El Paso County does
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office maintains peace, enforces statutes, serves civil process and warrants, performs extraditions, coordinates search and rescue, acts as Fire Warden, maintains criminal-justice records, and operates the county criminal-justice center.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 14 August 2026. El Paso County, Colorado — Deputy Sheriff - Certified — open the source document
Revision Date 4 October 2024 | Class: Deputy Sheriff - Certified | Post-academy: yes — certified Deputy Sheriff classification; the class series separately identifies Deputy Recruit | Specific employer class specification publishes $36.41-$48.29 hourly / $75,735.20-$100,447.20 annually.
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 El Paso 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. El Paso County starts at $75,735, so $10,361 above the county middle.
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 it ranks
Common questions
How much does a El Paso County Sheriff's Office officer make?
El Paso County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $75,735 a year, about $36.41 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 El Paso County, Colorado — Deputy Sheriff - Certified.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Colorado?
It ranks #20 of 35 agencies we have verified in Colorado — 15 pay less, 19 pay more in the state — and #532 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,345 above, and against other county agencies $10,361 above.
Compare with another department
Put El Paso 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 CO
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs El | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado State Patrol | State | 706 | $91,620 | +$15,885 | #184 |
| 2 | Parker Police Department | Municipal | 89 | $89,898 | +$14,163 | #217 |
| 3 | Johnstown Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $86,944 | +$11,209 | #266 |
| 4 | Broomfield Police Department | Municipal | 135 | $86,029 | +$10,294 | #278 |
| 5 | Golden Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $85,321 | +$9,586 | #287 |
| 6 | Lakewood Police Department | Municipal | 274 | $85,093 | +$9,358 | #291 |
| 7 | Breckenridge Police Department | Municipal | 25 | $83,990 | +$8,255 | #310 |
| 8 | Thornton Police Department | Municipal | 243 | $82,992 | +$7,257 | #332 |
| 9 | Commerce City Police Department | Municipal | 109 | $82,327 | +$6,592 | #341 |
| 10 | Larimer County Sheriff's Office | County | 228 | $81,765 | +$6,030 | #353 |
| 11 | Westminster Police Department | Municipal | 187 | $80,746 | +$5,010 | #387 |
| 12 | Boulder County Sheriff's Office | County | 106 | $80,496 | +$4,761 | #395 |
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
