Home › Police pay › Pennsylvania › Lehigh County Sheriff's Office
Lehigh 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.
Lehigh County Sheriff's Office starts at $54,912 a year — about $26.40 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,478 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $10,462 below the median for county agencies.
How big the department isLehigh County Sheriff's Office reported 73 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 Lehigh County says about itself
The mission of the Lehigh County Sheriff's Office is to offer the highest quality in law enforcement services and attentiveness to all of the people of Lehigh County. Our teammates will accomplish our mission through excellence, respect and integrity in all aspects of our operations and professional services.
What Lehigh County does
The Lehigh County Sheriff's Office transports prisoners, conducts sheriff sales, investigates and apprehends fugitives and bail-piece subjects, and provides courthouse security and ongoing support to local law-enforcement agencies. These duties are carried out by the Sheriff's Office as part of the county court and public-safety system
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Lehigh County employer-specific Deputy Sheriff recruitment — open the source document
Their source is effective 30 March 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 Lehigh 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. Lehigh County starts at $54,912, so $10,462 below the county middle.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lehigh County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Lehigh County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $54,912 a year, about $26.40 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 Lehigh County employer-specific Deputy Sheriff recruitment.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #20 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 3 pay less, 19 pay more in the state — and #1,440 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,478 below, and against other county agencies $10,462 below.
Compare with another department
Put Lehigh 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 Lehigh | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$48,509 | #71 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$35,250 | #212 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$18,175 | #624 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$17,739 | #643 |
| 5 | Allentown Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $72,607 | +$17,695 | #645 |
| 6 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | +$17,422 | #651 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | +$14,040 | #817 |
| 8 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | +$8,320 | #1,101 |
| 9 | Northampton County Sheriff's Department | County | 59 | $60,606 | +$5,694 | #1,209 |
| 10 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | +$3,432 | #1,303 |
| 11 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | +$3,188 | #1,316 |
| 12 | Lancaster County Sheriff's Office | County | 55 | $57,803 | +$2,891 | #1,338 |
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.
Scan to install
