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Lancaster 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.
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office starts at $57,803 a year — about $27.79 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,587 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $7,571 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Lancaster, PA run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $58,829 would somewhere at average prices — $1,025 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 107, where goods are 101. 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 isLancaster County Sheriff's Office reported 55 sworn officers and 9 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 Lancaster County says about itself
Welcome to the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office website. Here we will provide information about services that our Office provides to the citizens of Lancaster County and beyond. We also aim to educate the public on the history of the Office of Sheriff, provide information on the duties and responsibilities of the Office and provide convenient access to our staff, resources, forms and other pertinent information.
What Lancaster County does
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office is a court-centred agency whose deputies are sworn law enforcement officers empowered to arrest for breaches of the peace under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code and to issue citations under the Vehicle Code, and who assist other county agencies on request. It works through a Criminal Division — fugitive apprehension, district court warrant control, K-9, transport and recruiting — and a Civil Division covering civil process, real estate, protection from abuse, firearms licensing, court security and security posts. Deputies screen everyone entering the Lancaster County Courthouse, transport around 8,000 inmates a year between the county prison and the courthouse, move some 600 prisoners within Pennsylvania and bring roughly 100 back from outside the Commonwealth, while civilian staff coordinate extraditions from across the United States and abroad.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Deputy Career page — open the source document
Their source is effective 9 August 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.
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How this level compares
Where Lancaster 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Lancaster County starts at $57,803, so $7,571 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lancaster County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $57,803 a year, about $27.79 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 Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Deputy Career page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #12 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 11 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #1,338 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,587 below, and against other county agencies $7,571 below.
Compare with another department
Put Lancaster 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 PA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lancaster | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$45,618 | #71 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$32,359 | #212 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$15,284 | #624 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$14,848 | #643 |
| 5 | Allentown Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $72,607 | +$14,804 | #645 |
| 6 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | +$14,530 | #651 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | +$11,149 | #817 |
| 8 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | +$5,429 | #1,101 |
| 9 | Northampton County Sheriff's Department | County | 59 | $60,606 | +$2,803 | #1,209 |
| 10 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | +$541 | #1,303 |
| 11 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | +$297 | #1,316 |
| 13 | Chester County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $57,720 | −$83 | #1,344 |
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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