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Madison 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.
Madison County Sheriff's Office starts at $55,390 a year — about $26.63 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $13,000 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $9,984 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Huntsville, AL run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $59,513 would somewhere at average prices — $4,123 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 78 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 isMadison County Sheriff's Office reported 184 sworn officers and 224 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 Madison County says about itself
We are devoted to our profession and strive to maintain the highest level of public trust while developing our organization to meet the present and future needs of our diverse community.
What Madison County does
The Madison County Sheriff's Office is the chief law enforcement office of the county, providing patrol, criminal investigation and court services across Madison County, Alabama.
Madison County’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Madison County's patrol division runs three 10-hour shifts covering 16 zoned areas across 850 square miles, with deputies typically working four days a week, ten hours a day.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
WorkingOff
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.
Madison County publishes the days on and off but not which are days and which are nights. In BlueShifts you choose that yourself — every shift can be a day, a night or a 24-hour tour, and the calendar marks it with a sun, a moon or a clock.
A four-day, ten-hour week walks through the calendar rather than repeating on the same days, and being on call around it makes the difference between a rest day and a working one worth recording. BlueShifts draws the whole cycle out months ahead and keeps the call-outs beside it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 9 August 2026. Madison County employer recruitment record for Deputy Sheriff — open the source document
$55,390.40. Deputy Sheriff hourly rate annualised at 2,080 hours. Madison County sheriff's employees are in the classified service under a county personnel board.
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 Madison 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. Madison County starts at $55,390, so $9,984 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Madison County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Madison County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $55,390 a year, about $26.63 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 Madison County employer recruitment record for Deputy Sheriff.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Alabama?
It ranks #5 of 21 agencies we have verified in Alabama — 16 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #1,415 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $13,000 below, and against other county agencies $9,984 below.
What shifts do Madison County Sheriff's Office officers work?
Madison County's patrol division runs three 10-hour shifts covering 16 zoned areas across 850 square miles, with deputies typically working four days a week, ten hours a day. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Madison 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 AL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Madison | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madison Police Department | Municipal | 88 | $60,195 | +$4,805 | #1,226 |
| 2 | Huntsville Police Department | Municipal | 432 | $58,614 | +$3,224 | #1,300 |
| 3 | Shelby County Sheriff's Office | County | 147 | $57,408 | +$2,018 | #1,362 |
| 4 | Alabama Highway Patrol | State | — | $56,726 | +$1,336 | #1,376 |
| 6 | Montgomery Police Department | Municipal | 259 | $55,168 | −$222 | #1,420 |
| 7 | Baldwin County Sheriff's Office | County | 174 | $53,768 | −$1,622 | #1,476 |
| 8 | Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office | County | 112 | $51,888 | −$3,502 | #1,521 |
| 9 | Prattville Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $50,679 | −$4,711 | #1,544 |
| 10 | Mobile County Sheriff's Office | County | 236 | $50,526 | −$4,864 | #1,551 |
| 11 | University of Alabama at Birmingham Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $49,920 | −$5,470 | #1,577 |
| 12 | Fairhope Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $47,840 | −$7,550 | #1,601 |
| 13 | Jefferson County Sheriff's Office | County | 466 | $47,736 | −$7,654 | #1,604 |
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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