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Loudoun 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.
Loudoun County Sheriff's Office starts at $70,955 a year — about $34.11 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,565 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $5,581 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV run about 9% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $65,166 somewhere at average prices — $5,789 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 151 against a national average of 100, where goods are 105. 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 isLoudoun County Sheriff's Office reported 648 sworn officers and 151 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 Loudoun County says about itself
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office strives to continuously improve public safety and law enforcement services to all members of our community through the Step-Up strategy of improved service, technology, efficiency, and professionalism.
What Loudoun County does
Loudoun County Sheriff's Office says it strives to continuously improve safety and law-enforcement services for all members of the community through its Step Up Strategy of improved service, technology, efficiency and professionalism. The agency describes itself as Virginia's largest full-service Sheriff's Office and provides patrol, court security, corrections, criminal investigations, emergency communications and other public-safety services.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Loudoun County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff-Field Operations (Patrol) — open the source document
Current continuous posting verified 8 August 2026; official annual minimum $70,955.17; non-certified applicants are expressly accepted and must complete a Virginia law-enforcement academy upon hire; $6,000 hiring bonus excluded
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 Loudoun 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. Loudoun County starts at $70,955, so $5,581 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Loudoun County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Loudoun County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $70,955 a year, about $34.11 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 Loudoun County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff-Field Operations (Patrol).
Is that good pay for a police officer in Virginia?
It ranks #6 of 36 agencies we have verified in Virginia — 30 pay less, 5 pay more in the state — and #727 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,565 above, and against other county agencies $5,581 above.
Compare with another department
Put Loudoun 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 VA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Loudoun | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlington County Police Department | County | 299 | $90,012 | +$19,057 | #215 |
| 2 | Falls Church Police Department | Municipal | 32 | $76,400 | +$5,445 | #496 |
| 3 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 264 | $75,000 | +$4,045 | #560 |
| 4 | Fairfax County Police Department | County | 1,390 | $74,035 | +$3,080 | #593 |
| 5 | Prince William County Police Department | County | 656 | $74,000 | +$3,045 | #595 |
| 7 | Leesburg Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $68,500 | −$2,455 | #834 |
| 8 | Prince William County Sheriff's Office | County | 656 | $66,596 | −$4,359 | #941 |
| 9 | Henrico County Police Division | County | 628 | $65,959 | −$4,996 | #968 |
| 10 | Fairfax County Sheriff's Office | County | 433 | $64,997 | −$5,958 | #1,025 |
| 11 | Richmond Police Department | Municipal | 608 | $63,360 | −$7,595 | #1,091 |
| 12 | Hanover County Sheriff's Office | County | 247 | $63,345 | −$7,610 | #1,093 |
| 13 | Chesterfield County Police Department | County | 499 | $62,751 | −$8,204 | #1,118 |
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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