Lincoln County Sheriff's Office entry pay

What Lincoln County says about itself

To work as a team with the communities of Lincoln County to affirmatively and equally promote, preserve and deliver a genuine feeling of security, safety and quality services.

What Lincoln County does

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office polices roughly 10,600 square miles of south-eastern Nevada - the Great Basin valleys along US 93 between Las Vegas and Ely - from a main station at Pioche with substations at Alamo and Caliente. The same small force runs dispatch, patrol, the detention center, civil process, fingerprinting and concealed firearm permits, and its officers are represented by the Lincoln County Law Enforcement Association on a ten-step ladder priced separately for patrol and jail.

Where the figure comes from

Checked 22 September 2026. Lincoln County and Lincoln County Law Enforcement Association collective bargaining agreement, 1 July 2025 - 30 June 2027, Exhibit 1: the Patrol column reads Recruit $23.25, Step 1 $26.78, rising to Step 10 $41.35, effective July 1, 2025. — open the source document
$55,702.40 is $26.78 an hour x 2,080; Article 19 Section 1 calls Exhibit A "the hourly wage schedule", so the annual figure is mine. STEP 1 IS THE FIGURE AND RECRUIT PAY IS NOT, AND THE CONTRACT DRAWS THE LINE ITSELF. Article 19 Section 9 reads: "a. New recruits shall start at recruit pay. b. New recruits shall advance to step 1 on July 1 after completing required POST training. c. Lateral recruits with less than 2 years of experience shall start at step 1. d. Lateral recruits with more than 2 years of experience shall receive one additional step per two years of Nevada law enforcement experience." So recruit pay is a pre-POST wage that ends at academy completion, which is exactly the rate this roster does not publish, and Step 1 is the first post-academy sworn step. Recruit pay is $23.25 on the patrol column for the record. Excluded from the figure: Steps 2 to 10, reaching $41.35; the POST certificate incentives, $1.00 an hour each for Intermediate, Advanced and Supervisor certificates; the 5% shift differential for working half a pay period between 4pm and 8am; the 6% assignment differentials for detective, K-9, PIO, POST representative and field training officer; and the $800 annual physical agility bonus. THE PATROL AND JAIL LADDERS ARE PRICED SEPARATELY on the same table - jail Step 1 is $25.99 - and patrol is the figure here. THE TABLE IS PUBLISHED WITH NAMES ON IT: Exhibit 1 is headed "Individual Placement" and lists the serving officers beside their steps, which is how the County publishes it.
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 Lincoln 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.

How it ranks

Common questions

How much does a Lincoln County Sheriff's Office officer make?

Lincoln County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $55,702 a year, about $26.78 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 Lincoln County and Lincoln County Law Enforcement Association collective bargaining agreement, 1 July 2025 - 30 June 2027, Exhibit 1: the Patrol column reads Recruit $23.25, Step 1 $26.78, rising to Step 10 $41.35, effective July 1, 2025..

Is that good pay for a police officer in Nevada?

It ranks #21 of 26 agencies we have verified in Nevada — 5 pay less, 20 pay more in the state — and #1,810 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,982 below, and against other county agencies $7,857 below.

The agencies either side of it