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Lincoln 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.
Lincoln County Sheriff's Office starts at $70,824 a year — about $34.05 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,139 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $7,264 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Oregon run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $68,521 somewhere at average prices — $2,303 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 109 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single metro 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 isLincoln County Sheriff's Office reported 30 sworn officers and 55 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 Lincoln County says about itself
Our mission is to enhance public safety, reduce the fear and impact of crime, and improve quality of life.
What Lincoln County does
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office polices the Oregon coast from Newport, running patrol, the county jail, civil process, emergency management, the 911 center and the county animal shelter. Its deputies are represented by the Lincoln County Deputies Association on a pay plan indexed by DPSST certificate level rather than by job title, with Basic at the bottom and four per cent added for an Intermediate certificate, eight for an Advanced one and a further two and a half for a field training assignment. Patrol and corrections deputies share the same entry grade.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. Lincoln County Pay Plan, LCDA Represented Employees - FLSA OT Eligible, "Effective: July 1, 2026" — "Basic 15 Base 34.05 35.07 36.12 ... S36", Step 1 of eleven at pay grade S36; the County's Position Inventory assigns "103 Deputy Sheriff-Patrol S36 15". — open the source document
$34.05 an hour is the only form the County publishes the rate in - the LCDA plan is an hourly table with no annual column and no hours statement. $70,824.00 is that rate at 2,080 hours, the same annualisation this roster applies to every hourly-only source, named here rather than hidden. THE PLAN IS INDEXED BY CERTIFICATE AND LONGEVITY, NOT BY JOB TITLE, so it takes two County documents to read: the pay plan prices a grid of Range 8-17 against Level (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, each with Base and longevity steps LI05, LI10, LI15, LI20) and gives each cell a pay grade S01 to S300; the Position Inventory then assigns the title. Deputy Sheriff-Patrol is position 103, grade S36, range 15 - which is the Basic 15 Base row. THE ENTRY LEVEL IS 'BASIC' AND THE PLAN SAYS SO BY WHAT IT ADDS TO IT: "Intermediate Certificate or Non-Cert AA Degree receives additional 4% over basic pay. Advanced Certificate or Non-Cert BA Degree receives an additional 8% over basic pay. FTO assignment receives additional 2.5%." There is no level beneath Basic and no trainee, recruit or cadet row anywhere in the plan. THE LONGEVITY STEPS ARE BUILT INTO THE GRADE AND ARE EXCLUDED: "Employees will receive an additional 1% over base pay after 5 years of service, 2% after 10 years, 3% after 15 years and 5% after 20 years of service", which is what LI05 through LI20 are. Base is the no-service cell. Excluded from the figure: the ten steps above, topping out at $45.75; every certificate, degree, FTO and longevity uplift; and the lower-graded Animal Services Deputy, Civil Deputy and Community Services Deputy, all at S21 range 12, which are not sworn patrol. Corrections-Deputy is position 121 at the SAME grade S36, so the custody and patrol entry rates are identical and no choice between them arises. A CAVEAT NAMED RATHER THAN HIDDEN: the Position Inventory is filed on the County's current Compensation Plan page among the 26-27 documents but its own header reads "As of: July 1, 2023", so the title-to-grade mapping is the County's current published one but is three years older than the rate table it is read against.
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 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.
| 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. Lincoln County starts at $70,824, so $7,259 above the county middle.
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 $70,824 a year, about $34.05 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 Pay Plan, LCDA Represented Employees - FLSA OT Eligible, "Effective: July 1, 2026" — "Basic 15 Base 34.05 35.07 36.12 ... S36", Step 1 of eleven at pay grade S36; the County's Position Inventory assigns "103 Deputy Sheriff-Patrol S36 15"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Oregon?
It ranks #35 of 53 agencies we have verified in Oregon — 18 pay less, 34 pay more in the state — and #893 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,139 above, and against other county agencies $7,264 above.
Compare with another department
Put Lincoln 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 OR
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lincoln | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tigard Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $86,596 | +$15,772 | #329 |
| 2 | Bend Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $86,432 | +$15,608 | #331 |
| 3 | Washington County Sheriff's Office | County | 219 | $85,738 | +$14,914 | #340 |
| 4 | Gresham Police Department | Municipal | 123 | $84,968 | +$14,144 | #354 |
| 5 | Portland Police Bureau | Municipal | 809 | $84,000 | +$13,176 | #373 |
| 6 | Hillsboro Police Department | Municipal | 144 | $83,988 | +$13,164 | #376 |
| 7 | Clackamas County Sheriff's Office | County | 204 | $83,053 | +$12,229 | #402 |
| 8 | Corvallis Police Department | Municipal | 67 | $82,747 | +$11,923 | #412 |
| 9 | Lane County Sheriff's Office | County | 75 | $82,181 | +$11,357 | #423 |
| 10 | Multnomah County Sheriff's Office | County | 132 | $82,035 | +$11,211 | #427 |
| 11 | Tualatin Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $81,973 | +$11,149 | #428 |
| 12 | Oregon City Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $81,564 | +$10,740 | #438 |
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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