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Lake 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.
Lake County Sheriff's Office starts at $72,613 a year — about $34.91 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,928 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $9,053 above the median for county agencies.
How big the department isLake County Sheriff's Office reported 88 sworn officers and 34 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 Lake County says about itself
We, the members of the Lake County Sheriff's Office, provide professional, responsive law enforcement services in collaboration with stakeholders in our community. We strive to have a county in which residents and visitors alike can feel safe and secure. We seek effective solutions to problems, while respecting the dignity and rights of all people, and we hold ourselves to the highest standards of conduct.
What Lake County does
Lake County Sheriff's Office provides patrol, investigations, corrections, court-security, civil, coroner, boating and search-and-rescue services. Official County materials emphasize professional public safety, service and protection of county communities.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. County of Lake official Deputy Sheriff I/II class specification — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 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 Lake 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. Lake County starts at $72,613, so $9,048 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lake County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Lake County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $72,613 a year, about $34.91 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 County of Lake official Deputy Sheriff I/II class specification.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #251 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 27 pay less, 250 pay more in the state — and #784 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,928 above, and against other county agencies $9,053 above.
Compare with another department
Put Lake 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 Lake | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$91,006 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$76,830 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$75,329 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$71,390 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$70,483 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$68,411 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$67,127 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$66,352 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$65,648 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$59,781 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$59,650 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$59,423 | #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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