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Kern 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.
Kern County Sheriff's Office starts at $77,635 a year — about $37.32 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,950 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $14,075 above the median for county agencies.
How big the department isKern County Sheriff's Office reported 860 sworn officers and 476 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 Kern County says about itself
The Kern County Sheriff's Office is committed to work in partnership with our community to enhance the safety, security, and quality of life for the residents and visitors of Kern County through professional public safety services. The Office is organized and exists to facilitate compliance with the lawfully prescribed duties of the Sheriff-Coroner, including the preservation of the peace, arrest of offenders, investigation and suppression of public offenses, maintenance of the jail system, service of process, attendance upon the courts, and search and rescue of lost or endangered persons.
What Kern County does
Kern County Sheriff's Office provides patrol, investigations, corrections, court-security, civil, coroner and specialized public-safety services. Official agency materials emphasize protecting life and property, professional law enforcement and service to the county's communities.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Kern County official Deputy Sheriff class specification — open the source document
The published $49,557.84 is Deputy Sheriff Trainee pay. Kern County defines Trainee as non-sworn and requires successful POST academy completion before appointment as probationary Deputy Sheriff. The Deputy Sheriff class is the entry/lateral sworn classification and starts at $6,469.58/month, or $77,634.96 annually.
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 Kern 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. Kern County starts at $77,635, so $14,070 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Kern County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Kern County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $77,635 a year, about $37.32 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 Kern County official Deputy Sheriff class specification.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #231 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 47 pay less, 230 pay more in the state — and #567 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,950 above, and against other county agencies $14,075 above.
Compare with another department
Put Kern 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 Kern | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$85,984 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$71,808 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$70,307 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$66,368 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$65,461 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$63,389 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$62,105 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$61,330 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$60,626 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$54,759 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$54,628 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$54,401 | #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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