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Lexington County Sheriff's Department 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.
Lexington County Sheriff's Department starts at $51,294 a year — about $24.66 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $15,391 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $12,266 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Columbia, SC run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $54,765 would somewhere at average prices — $3,471 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 79 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 isLexington County Sheriff's Department reported 296 sworn officers and 150 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 Lexington County says about itself
Our mission is to work as a professional law enforcement team to build relationships with those we are sworn to serve and our vision is to make Lexington County a safer place. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department is a full-service, internationally accredited law enforcement agency.
What Lexington County does
Lexington County Patrol Deputies enforce local, state and federal laws, patrol assigned county areas, respond to emergencies, arrest suspects, issue citations, transport prisoners, assist criminal investigations and prepare cases for prosecution
Lexington County’s rotation, in BlueShifts
The Department states the cycle on its own recruitment site, under Work Schedule: "12-hour shifts - 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. or 6 p.m. - 6 a.m. Two days on, two days off; three days on, two days off; two days on, three days off." The same page prices uncertified applicants at $51,293.84 to $55,408.08 and already-certified officers separately and higher.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
The Pitman is a fortnightly 2-2-3 cycle, so it never repeats weekly and every other weekend is a three-day break. BlueShifts builds the cycle once and fills every month ahead, so you can see which weekends are yours before you are asked to commit to them.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Why Join Our Team — "Detention and Law Enforcement Deputies - uncertified applicants. Starting Salary: $51,293.84 - $55,408.08. Applies to the brand-new detention or law enforcement applicant." — open the source document
Their source is effective 10 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.
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 this level compares
Where Lexington 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. Lexington County starts at $51,294, so $12,271 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lexington County Sheriff's Department officer make?
Lexington County Sheriff's Department starts a new officer on $51,294 a year, about $24.66 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 Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Why Join Our Team — "Detention and Law Enforcement Deputies - uncertified applicants. Starting Salary: $51,293.84 - $55,408.08. Applies to the brand-new detention or law enforcement applicant.".
Is that good pay for a police officer in South Carolina?
It ranks #20 of 27 agencies we have verified in South Carolina — 7 pay less, 19 pay more in the state — and #2,020 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $15,391 below, and against other county agencies $12,266 below.
What shifts do Lexington County Sheriff's Department officers work?
The Department states the cycle on its own recruitment site, under Work Schedule: "12-hour shifts - 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. or 6 p.m. - 6 a.m. Two days on, two days off; three days on, two days off; two days on, three days off." The same page prices uncertified applicants at $51,293.84 to $55,408.08 and already-certified officers separately and higher. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Lexington County Sheriff's Department 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 SC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lexington | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $66,747 | +$15,453 | #1,142 |
| 2 | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | Municipal | 98 | $62,000 | +$10,706 | #1,449 |
| 3 | South Carolina Highway Patrol | State | 1,004 | $61,908 | +$10,614 | #1,454 |
| 4 | Horry County Police Department | County | — | $61,800 | +$10,506 | #1,461 |
| 5 | Rock Hill Police Department | Municipal | 148 | $61,331 | +$10,037 | #1,484 |
| 6 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 223 | $61,081 | +$9,787 | #1,496 |
| 7 | Mount Pleasant Police Department | Municipal | 159 | $60,611 | +$9,317 | #1,526 |
| 8 | Greenville County Sheriff's Office | County | 576 | $59,273 | +$7,979 | #1,618 |
| 9 | Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 419 | $58,115 | +$6,821 | #1,671 |
| 10 | Greenville Police Department | Municipal | 219 | $57,353 | +$6,060 | #1,739 |
| 11 | University of South Carolina Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 6 | $56,696 | +$5,402 | #1,767 |
| 12 | North Charleston Police Department | Municipal | 308 | $56,078 | +$4,784 | #1,794 |
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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