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Jefferson 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.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office starts at $83,678 a year — about $40.23 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $16,994 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $20,119 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Washington run about 7% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $78,195 somewhere at average prices — $5,484 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 126 against a national average of 100, where goods are 104. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single 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 isJefferson County Sheriff's Office reported 26 sworn officers and 25 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 Jefferson County says about itself
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is dedicated to provide non-discriminatory, effective and efficient law enforcement service in protecting the life and property of the citizens of Jefferson County, and to ensure that the constitutional rights of all persons are protected.
What Jefferson County does
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, established in 1853, is one of the oldest law enforcement organisations in Washington. It polices 1,815 square miles of the Olympic Peninsula from Port Hadlock, with a substation at Clearwater on the Pacific coast and its civil division at the courthouse in Port Townsend, serving a county of about 33,000 people of whom roughly 20,000 live in the unincorporated areas the office covers. It has 46 full-time positions and about 20 volunteers.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 22 September 2026. Jefferson County and Teamsters Local Union No. 589 collective bargaining agreement covering Sheriff's Office Commissioned Deputies, January 2025 through December 2027, Appendix A Wages & Classifications: the 2026 table reads "ENTRY/1 Step A/2 Step B/3 Step C/4 Step D/5 Step E/6 Step F/7 | 40.23 42.24 44.36 46.58 48.90 51.34 53.91". — open the source document
$83,678.40 is $40.23 an hour x 2,080, the 2026 column of a seven-step hourly table; the agreement prices hourly and states no annual, so the multiplication is mine. ENTRY IS A STEP OF THE DEPUTIES' OWN SCALE, NOT A CLASS BENEATH IT, and that is what makes it the figure. It is written "ENTRY/1" - step one of seven - and it sits exactly 5% below Step A, the same differential the appendix applies between every other pair of steps. The people on it are employees of the Sheriff's Office: Article 23.1.1 provides that "Employees employed as Entry shall be issued one (1) class A uniform and the balance of the Initial Issue supplied upon moving to Step A". THE ACADEMY IS ATTENDED ON THIS WAGE. Appendix A's restructuring note says employees in the old Entry step "are paid Entry wages until completion of the Academy", and Article 23.1 provides "All uniforms and equipment required by CJTC for basic academy if employee is attending". Academy attendance never disqualifies a figure here; only prior sworn service does. COMPARE LINCOLN COUNTY NEVADA, where the rate below the scale is a separate class called Recruit, sits 15% below Step 1 rather than 5%, and is skipped - the test is whether the rate is a STEP OF THE SCALE or a CLASS BENEATH IT. Excluded from the figure: Steps A to F, which reach $53.91 in 2026; longevity under Article 17; educational premiums under Article 16; and the extra-duty details in Article 8, which are priced at not less than the fifth-year deputy rate. THE TABLE WAS REBUILT ON 1 JANUARY 2025 AND NOTHING BEFORE IT IS COMPARABLE: Appendix A dropped the two bottom steps, renumbered the rest, added two at the top, advanced four step-groups by one step, and then applied a general 8% increase on top.
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.
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How this level compares
Where Jefferson 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. Jefferson County starts at $83,678, so $20,113 above the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $83,678 a year, about $40.23 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 Jefferson County and Teamsters Local Union No. 589 collective bargaining agreement covering Sheriff's Office Commissioned Deputies, January 2025 through December 2027, Appendix A Wages & Classifications: the 2026 table reads "ENTRY/1 Step A/2 Step B/3 Step C/4 Step D/5 Step E/6 Step F/7 | 40.23 42.24 44.36 46.58 48.90 51.34 53.91"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Washington?
It ranks #59 of 92 agencies we have verified in Washington — 33 pay less, 58 pay more in the state — and #390 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $16,994 above, and against other county agencies $20,119 above.
Compare with another department
Put Jefferson 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 WA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Jefferson | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Police Department | Municipal | 1,064 | $117,792 | +$34,114 | #38 |
| 2 | Redmond Police Department | Municipal | 81 | $110,435 | +$26,757 | #59 |
| 3 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $108,386 | +$24,708 | #68 |
| 4 | Lynnwood Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $106,371 | +$22,693 | #81 |
| 5 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 207 | $102,516 | +$18,838 | #106 |
| 6 | Vancouver Police Department | Municipal | 226 | $101,832 | +$18,154 | #110 |
| 7 | Kirkland Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $101,218 | +$17,539 | #118 |
| 8 | Tukwila Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $101,064 | +$17,386 | #120 |
| 9 | Bothell Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $101,055 | +$17,376 | #121 |
| 10 | Mount Vernon Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $100,836 | +$17,158 | #125 |
| 11 | Kennewick Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $100,104 | +$16,426 | #128 |
| 12 | Edmonds Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $99,168 | +$15,490 | #140 |
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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