Home › Police pay › Virginia › Newport News Sheriff's Office
Newport News 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.
Newport News Sheriff's Office starts at $52,167 a year — about $25.08 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $16,223 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $13,207 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $53,264 would somewhere at average prices — $1,097 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 90, where goods are 97. 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.
What Newport News says about itself
The Newport News Sheriff's Office provides supervision of all persons in the care of the Newport News City Jail; provides security in the courts, and serves civil and criminal warrants.
What Newport News does
Newport News Sheriff's Office provides jail operations, court security, civil-process service, prisoner transportation and related sheriff functions. Official City materials emphasize professional service, safety, integrity and support for the courts and community.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Newport News Sheriff Step Schedule — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 July 2025.
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 Newport News 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. Newport News starts at $52,167, so $13,207 below the county middle.
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 it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Newport News Sheriff's Office officer make?
Newport News Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $52,167 a year, about $25.08 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 City of Newport News Sheriff Step Schedule.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Virginia?
It ranks #30 of 36 agencies we have verified in Virginia — 6 pay less, 29 pay more in the state — and #1,510 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $16,223 below, and against other county agencies $13,207 below.
Compare with another department
Put Newport News 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 Newport | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlington County Police Department | County | 299 | $90,012 | +$37,845 | #215 |
| 2 | Falls Church Police Department | Municipal | 32 | $76,400 | +$24,233 | #496 |
| 3 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 264 | $75,000 | +$22,833 | #560 |
| 4 | Fairfax County Police Department | County | 1,390 | $74,035 | +$21,868 | #593 |
| 5 | Prince William County Police Department | County | 656 | $74,000 | +$21,833 | #595 |
| 6 | Loudoun County Sheriff's Office | County | 648 | $70,955 | +$18,788 | #727 |
| 7 | Leesburg Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $68,500 | +$16,333 | #834 |
| 8 | Prince William County Sheriff's Office | County | 656 | $66,596 | +$14,429 | #941 |
| 9 | Henrico County Police Division | County | 628 | $65,959 | +$13,792 | #968 |
| 10 | Fairfax County Sheriff's Office | County | 433 | $64,997 | +$12,830 | #1,025 |
| 11 | Richmond Police Department | Municipal | 608 | $63,360 | +$11,193 | #1,091 |
| 12 | Hanover County Sheriff's Office | County | 247 | $63,345 | +$11,178 | #1,093 |
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
