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Erie 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.
Erie County Sheriff's Office starts at $45,098 a year — about $21.68 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $23,292 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $20,277 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Erie, PA run about 9% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $49,585 would somewhere at average prices — $4,487 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 57 against a national average of 100, where goods are 101. 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 isErie County Sheriff's Office reported 36 sworn officers and 8 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 Erie County says about itself
The Office is responsible for providing professional law enforcement services throughout Erie County, Pennsylvania, while upholding the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
What Erie County does
Erie County's Sheriff's Office serves the courts and performs civil and criminal court-order functions. County materials describe deputies serving warrants and PFA orders, conducting civil work, providing court and prisoner-related security functions and carrying out the Sheriff's statutory duties
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Erie County 2025 Final Budget, Sheriff position schedule; current Erie County Deputy Sheriff job description confirms certification-after-hire — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 October 2024.
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 Erie 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. Erie County starts at $45,098, so $20,276 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Erie County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Erie County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $45,098 a year, about $21.68 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 Erie County 2025 Final Budget, Sheriff position schedule; current Erie County Deputy Sheriff job description confirms certification-after-hire.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #23 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 0 pay less, 22 pay more in the state — and #1,628 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $23,292 below, and against other county agencies $20,277 below.
Compare with another department
Put Erie 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 PA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Erie | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$58,323 | #71 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$45,064 | #212 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$27,989 | #624 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$27,553 | #643 |
| 5 | Allentown Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $72,607 | +$27,509 | #645 |
| 6 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | +$27,236 | #651 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | +$23,854 | #817 |
| 8 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | +$18,134 | #1,101 |
| 9 | Northampton County Sheriff's Department | County | 59 | $60,606 | +$15,508 | #1,209 |
| 10 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | +$13,246 | #1,303 |
| 11 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | +$13,002 | #1,316 |
| 12 | Lancaster County Sheriff's Office | County | 55 | $57,803 | +$12,706 | #1,338 |
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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