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Jefferson Parish 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 Parish Sheriff's Office starts at $58,200 a year — about $27.98 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,485 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $5,360 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New Orleans-Metairie, LA run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,853 would somewhere at average prices — $4,653 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 71 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isJefferson Parish Sheriff's Office reported 916 sworn officers and 445 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 Parish says about itself
JPSO's mission is to keep Jefferson Parish a safe place to live, work and raise a family. To this end, everyone at JPSO must be committed to the values of professionalism, intellect and integrity.
What Jefferson Parish does
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office provides law-enforcement services through regular paid deputies, including patrol. Its Training Academy provides professional law-enforcement training and POST preparation, including patrol activities, investigations, traffic services, firearms and legal instruction
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Salary Schedule; Louisiana Legislature R.S. 40:2402 and C.C.P. Art. 331 establish sworn authority — open the source document
Their source is effective 9 February 2025.
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 Jefferson Parish 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 Parish starts at $58,200, so $5,365 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office officer make?
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $58,200 a year, about $27.98 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 Parish Sheriff's Office Salary Schedule; Louisiana Legislature R.S. 40:2402 and C.C.P. Art. 331 establish sworn authority.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Louisiana?
It ranks #1 of 28 agencies we have verified in Louisiana — the highest in the state in the state — and #1,664 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,485 below, and against other county agencies $5,360 below.
Compare with another department
Put Jefferson Parish 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 LA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Jefferson | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Baton Rouge Police Department | Municipal | 544 | $58,000 | −$200 | #1,677 |
| 3 | Louisiana State Police | State | 1,192 | $57,680 | −$520 | #1,719 |
| 4 | Kenner Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $54,700 | −$3,500 | #1,877 |
| 5 | New Orleans Police Department | Municipal | 906 | $54,421 | −$3,779 | #1,894 |
| 6 | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,997 | −$4,203 | #1,917 |
| 7 | Gretna Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $49,118 | −$9,082 | #2,114 |
| 8 | Lake Charles Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $48,500 | −$9,700 | #2,129 |
| 9 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $48,271 | −$9,929 | #2,138 |
| 10 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $45,000 | −$13,200 | #2,207 |
| 11 | Covington Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $43,672 | −$14,528 | #2,227 |
| 12 | Sulphur Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $43,553 | −$14,647 | #2,228 |
| 13 | Bossier City Police Department | Municipal | 200 | $42,576 | −$15,624 | #2,237 |
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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