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Fairfax 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.
Fairfax County Sheriff's Office starts at $64,997 a year — about $31.25 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,688 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,437 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $59,694 somewhere at average prices — $5,303 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 151 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. 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.
What Fairfax County says about itself
The Sheriff's Office was created in 1742, at the same time Fairfax County was formed, and is now one of three public safety agencies responsible for the safety and well-being of the 1.1 million residents of Fairfax County.
What Fairfax County does
Fairfax County Sheriff's Office provides court security, jail operations, civil-process service and law-enforcement support for Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church. Official County materials emphasize safety, professional service, integrity and respect for the people it serves.
Fairfax County’s rotation, in BlueShifts
The Sheriff's Office answers it in its own recruiting FAQ: deputies begin their careers in the Adult Detention Center, which runs 12.5-hour shifts - day shift 6:30am to 7pm, night shift 6:30pm to 7am - and "the schedule is 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off, and repeat".
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
A fortnight that repeats - two on, two off, three on, two off, two on, three off - never lines up with a week, so the day you are off this Saturday is a day you work in a fortnight's time. BlueShifts builds that cycle once and runs it forward across real months, and the half-hour on a 12.5-hour tour is counted where a whole-hour calendar would lose it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Fairfax County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff — open the source document
Opening 27 December 2025; closes 25 December 2026; current annual minimum $64,997.09; $15,000 sign-on bonus and differential/add-on pay excluded
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 Fairfax 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. Fairfax County starts at $64,997, so $1,432 above the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fairfax County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Fairfax County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $64,997 a year, about $31.25 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 Fairfax County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Virginia?
It ranks #11 of 42 agencies we have verified in Virginia — 31 pay less, 10 pay more in the state — and #1,263 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,688 below, and against other county agencies $1,437 above.
What shifts do Fairfax County Sheriff's Office officers work?
The Sheriff's Office answers it in its own recruiting FAQ: deputies begin their careers in the Adult Detention Center, which runs 12.5-hour shifts - day shift 6:30am to 7pm, night shift 6:30pm to 7am - and "the schedule is 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off, and repeat". That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Fairfax 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 VA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Fairfax | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlington County Police Department | County | 299 | $90,012 | +$25,015 | #269 |
| 2 | Falls Church Police Department | Municipal | 32 | $76,400 | +$11,403 | #605 |
| 3 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 264 | $75,000 | +$10,003 | #677 |
| 4 | Fairfax County Police Department | County | 1,390 | $74,035 | +$9,038 | #716 |
| 5 | Prince William County Police Department | County | 656 | $74,000 | +$9,003 | #718 |
| 6 | Loudoun County Sheriff's Office | County | 648 | $70,955 | +$5,958 | #884 |
| 7 | Leesburg Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $68,500 | +$3,503 | #1,017 |
| 8 | Manassas Police Department | Municipal | 99 | $68,453 | +$3,456 | #1,024 |
| 9 | Prince William County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $66,596 | +$1,599 | #1,151 |
| 10 | Henrico County Police Division | County | 628 | $65,959 | +$962 | #1,188 |
| 12 | Fredericksburg Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $64,000 | −$997 | #1,319 |
| 13 | Richmond Police Department | Municipal | 608 | $63,360 | −$1,637 | #1,360 |
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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