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Humboldt 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.
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office starts at $58,635 a year — about $28.19 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,050 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,924 below the median for county agencies.
How big the department isHumboldt County Sheriff's Office reported 171 sworn officers and 71 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 Humboldt County says about itself
The mission of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is to protect and serve our community and to earn the public's trust through compassion and accountability. Its vision is to be the safest rural community in California where peace, justice and freedom thrive. The office serves over 136,000 residents with four patrol stations and one correctional facility and approximately 349 employees.
What Humboldt County does
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office serves the county through patrol stations and a correctional facility and identifies divisions including corrections, patrol, court services, coroner-public administrator, major crimes, dispatch, emergency services, animal control and specialized enforcement teams.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Humboldt County official Deputy Sheriff I class specification — open the source document
The published $53,060.80 corresponds to Deputy Sheriff Recruit at $25.51/hour. The Recruit specification says it prepares candidates for Deputy Sheriff I and advancement occurs after successful academy completion. Deputy Sheriff I is the entry-level peace-officer class and starts at $28.19/hour, annualized at 2,080 hours to $58,635.20.
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 Humboldt 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. Humboldt County starts at $58,635, so $4,930 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Humboldt County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $58,635 a year, about $28.19 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 Humboldt County official Deputy Sheriff I class specification.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #272 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 6 pay less, 271 pay more in the state — and #1,648 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,050 below, and against other county agencies $4,924 below.
Compare with another department
Put Humboldt 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Humboldt | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$104,984 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$90,808 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$89,307 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$85,368 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$84,461 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$82,389 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$81,105 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$80,330 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$79,626 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$73,758 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$73,628 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$73,401 | #12 |
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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