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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 $62,304 a year — about $29.95 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,381 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,256 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Washington run about 7% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $58,221 somewhere at average prices — $4,083 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 126 against a national average of 100, where goods are 104. 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 15 sworn officers and 15 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
As the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the county, the Sheriff is responsible for enforcement of county, state and federal laws. The Sheriff's Office investigates crimes and accidents and apprehends criminals. The Sheriff's Office also operates the county jail and dispatches emergency services such as police, fire and ambulances. As an officer of the Court, the Sheriff serves civil process and enforces Court orders and warrants.
What Lincoln County does
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office polices 2,339 square miles of the Columbia Plateau wheat country west of Spokane, bordered on the north by Lake Roosevelt, from Davenport. It is a staff of thirty in two divisions: a Patrol Division of eleven deputies and two sergeants, which also covers deputy coroner duties, marine patrol, traffic enforcement and criminal investigations, and a Corrections/Communications Division of nine that runs the jail and the county 911 center. The office contracts police service to six towns - Almira, Creston, Davenport, Harrington, Sprague and Wilbur - and every patrol deputy must live in the county as assigned.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 22 September 2026. Lincoln County 2026 Wage Scale, "Teamsters commissioned positions - 2.45% COLA above 2025": the Road Deputy row, 308 points, reads Step 1 5192 and runs to Step 8 6902. — open the source document
$62,304 is $5,192 x 12. THE SCALE PRINTS NO PAY PERIOD AND THE ARITHMETIC SETTLES IT: $5,192 cannot be annual, because that is below a full-time minimum wage in Washington, and it cannot be hourly; the same sheet puts the Undersheriff at 9034, which is $108,408 a year read monthly and nonsense read either other way. Monthly is the only reading the sheet supports. THE COUNTY'S OWN RECRUITING PAGE CONFIRMS THE BAND: the Sheriff's Office employment page offers entry-level and lateral patrol deputies "competitive wages of $5,192 to $6,902", which is Step 1 to Step 8 of this Road Deputy row exactly, so the recruiting range and the wage scale are the same document seen twice. ROAD DEPUTY IS THE ONLY COMMISSIONED PATROL CLASS and nothing sits beneath it - no recruit, cadet, trainee or probationary line - while Radio/Corrections and 911 Dispatch are priced in a separate non-commissioned block. The employment page names the entry-level and lateral positions together on one wage, so there is no lateral premium to strip out. Excluded from the figure: Steps 2 to 8, reaching $6,902; Road Corporal at $6,045; Road Sergeant, which has an old and a new 2014 scale reaching $7,726; and the appointed positions - Civil Deputy and Jail Supervisor at $7,608, Chief Criminal Deputy at $8,559, Undersheriff at $9,034. THE BARGAINING UNIT CHANGED HANDS BETWEEN THE 2024 AND 2026 SHEETS: the 2024 scale is headed "Guild commissioned positions" and the 2026 one "Teamsters commissioned positions", same Road Deputy row, same 308 points.
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 $62,304, so $1,261 below 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 $62,304 a year, about $29.95 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 2026 Wage Scale, "Teamsters commissioned positions - 2.45% COLA above 2025": the Road Deputy row, 308 points, reads Step 1 5192 and runs to Step 8 6902..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Washington?
It ranks #89 of 92 agencies we have verified in Washington — 3 pay less, 88 pay more in the state — and #1,427 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,381 below, and against other county agencies $1,256 below.
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 WA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lincoln | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Police Department | Municipal | 1,064 | $117,792 | +$55,488 | #38 |
| 2 | Redmond Police Department | Municipal | 81 | $110,435 | +$48,131 | #59 |
| 3 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $108,386 | +$46,082 | #68 |
| 4 | Lynnwood Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $106,371 | +$44,067 | #81 |
| 5 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 207 | $102,516 | +$40,212 | #106 |
| 6 | Vancouver Police Department | Municipal | 226 | $101,832 | +$39,528 | #110 |
| 7 | Kirkland Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $101,218 | +$38,914 | #118 |
| 8 | Tukwila Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $101,064 | +$38,760 | #120 |
| 9 | Bothell Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $101,055 | +$38,751 | #121 |
| 10 | Mount Vernon Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $100,836 | +$38,532 | #125 |
| 11 | Kennewick Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $100,104 | +$37,800 | #128 |
| 12 | Edmonds Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $99,168 | +$36,864 | #140 |
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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