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Kanawha 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.
Kanawha County Sheriff's Office starts at $57,054 a year — about $27.43 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,630 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $6,505 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Charleston, WV run about 11% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $64,311 would somewhere at average prices — $7,256 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 51 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isKanawha County Sheriff's Office reported 95 sworn officers and 33 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 Kanawha County says about itself
The mission of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office is to enhance the quality of life in Kanawha County by working in partnership with the community to enforce the law, preserve the peace, protect the people, reduce the fear, and maintain order.
What Kanawha County does
The Law Enforcement Division is responsible for frontline policing across unincorporated Kanawha County. Deputies patrol neighborhoods and highways, respond to 911 calls, investigate crimes and traffic crashes, serve criminal warrants, provide court security and protective-order service, and work with other law-enforcement agencies
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Kanawha County Sheriff's Office Employment page — open the source document
Their source is effective 30 April 2026.
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 Kanawha 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. Kanawha County starts at $57,054, so $6,511 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Kanawha County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Kanawha County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $57,054 a year, about $27.43 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 Kanawha County Sheriff's Office Employment page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in West Virginia?
It ranks #7 of 16 agencies we have verified in West Virginia — 9 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #1,747 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,630 below, and against other county agencies $6,505 below.
Compare with another department
Put Kanawha 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 WV
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Kanawha | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia State Police | State | 440 | $60,984 | +$3,930 | #1,507 |
| 2 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $59,187 | +$2,133 | #1,621 |
| 3 | Morgantown Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $58,157 | +$1,102 | #1,666 |
| 4 | Huntington Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $57,787 | +$733 | #1,702 |
| 5 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $57,485 | +$431 | #1,730 |
| 6 | Charles Town Police Department | Municipal | 16 | $57,462 | +$408 | #1,732 |
| 8 | Monongalia County Sheriff's Office | County | 35 | $56,300 | −$754 | #1,781 |
| 9 | Martinsburg Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $55,710 | −$1,344 | #1,809 |
| 10 | Wheeling Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $55,161 | −$1,893 | #1,842 |
| 11 | Jefferson County Sheriff's Office | County | 34 | $55,125 | −$1,929 | #1,844 |
| 12 | Moundsville Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $54,621 | −$2,434 | #1,882 |
| 13 | Fairmont Police Department | Municipal | 33 | $53,597 | −$3,457 | #1,935 |
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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