Home › Police pay › California › Merced County Sheriff's Office
Merced 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.
Merced County Sheriff's Office starts at $76,315 a year — about $36.69 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $9,630 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $12,756 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Merced, CA run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $77,655 would somewhere at average prices — $1,340 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 158, 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 isMerced County Sheriff's Office reported 253 sworn officers and 86 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 Merced County says about itself
Our mission is to provide responsive, professional, and caring law enforcement services to all the people of Merced County. We will respond to calls for service promptly, protect lives and property to the very best of our abilities, initiate and maintain crime prevention programs, and apprehend criminal offenders; we will maintain correctional facilities and operate correctional programs in the most efficient and effective manner possible; and we will be diligent in our role as Coroners to protect the rights and dignity of those who can no longer speak for themselves.
What Merced County does
Merced County Sheriff's Office provides patrol, investigations, corrections, civil, court-security, coroner and specialized law-enforcement services. Official agency materials emphasize professional public safety, service and partnership with county communities.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Merced County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff/Coroner I/II — open the source document
Opening 17 April 2026; closing Continuous; Deputy Sheriff/Coroner I minimum $36.69/hour / $76,315.20 annually
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 Merced 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. Merced County starts at $76,315, so $12,750 above the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Merced County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Merced County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $76,315 a year, about $36.69 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 Merced County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff/Coroner I/II.
Is that good pay for a police officer in California?
It ranks #236 of 278 agencies we have verified in California — 42 pay less, 235 pay more in the state — and #611 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $9,630 above, and against other county agencies $12,756 above.
Compare with another department
Put Merced 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 CA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Merced | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara Police Department | Municipal | 141 | $163,619 | +$87,304 | #1 |
| 2 | Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety | Municipal | 227 | $149,443 | +$73,128 | #2 |
| 3 | Redwood City Police Department | Municipal | 83 | $147,942 | +$71,627 | #3 |
| 4 | San Jose Police Department | Municipal | 1,065 | $144,003 | +$67,688 | #4 |
| 5 | Mountain View Police Department | Municipal | 90 | $143,096 | +$66,781 | #5 |
| 6 | San Mateo Police Department | Municipal | 111 | $141,024 | +$64,709 | #6 |
| 7 | Los Altos Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $139,740 | +$63,425 | #7 |
| 8 | Hayward Police Department | Municipal | 171 | $138,965 | +$62,650 | #8 |
| 9 | Milpitas Police Department | Municipal | 84 | $138,261 | +$61,946 | #9 |
| 10 | Los Gatos Police Department | Municipal | 34 | $132,394 | +$56,078 | #10 |
| 11 | Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,071 | $132,263 | +$55,948 | #11 |
| 12 | Menlo Park Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $132,036 | +$55,721 | #12 |
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.
Scan to install
