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Northampton County Sheriff's Department 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.
Northampton County Sheriff's Department starts at $60,606 a year — about $29.14 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,784 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $4,768 below the median for county agencies.
How big the department isNorthampton County Sheriff's Department reported 59 sworn officers and 7 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 Northampton County says about itself
The Northampton County Sheriff's Department is a professional law enforcement agency charged with a multitude of duties and responsibilities, including providing building and court room security at the County Courthouse and other County buildings, transporting prisoners, locating and apprehending fugitives, serving warrants, legal papers and notices.
What Northampton County does
Northampton County describes its Sheriff's Department as a professional law-enforcement agency responsible for courthouse and county-building security, prisoner transportation, fugitive apprehension, warrant and legal-paper service, civil enforcement and licensing functions. Its Criminal Division investigates and locates fugitives and works with other law-enforcement agencies
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Northampton County Deputy Sheriff recruitment — open the source document
Their source is effective 13 April 2026.
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 Northampton 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. Northampton County starts at $60,606, so $4,768 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Northampton County Sheriff's Department officer make?
Northampton County Sheriff's Department starts a new officer on $60,606 a year, about $29.14 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 Northampton County Deputy Sheriff recruitment.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #9 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 14 pay less, 8 pay more in the state — and #1,209 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,784 below, and against other county agencies $4,768 below.
Compare with another department
Put Northampton County Sheriff's Department 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 PA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Northampton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$42,815 | #71 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$29,556 | #212 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$12,481 | #624 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$12,045 | #643 |
| 5 | Allentown Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $72,607 | +$12,001 | #645 |
| 6 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | +$11,728 | #651 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | +$8,346 | #817 |
| 8 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | +$2,626 | #1,101 |
| 10 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | −$2,262 | #1,303 |
| 11 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | −$2,506 | #1,316 |
| 12 | Lancaster County Sheriff's Office | County | 55 | $57,803 | −$2,803 | #1,338 |
| 13 | Chester County Sheriff's Office | County | 59 | $57,720 | −$2,886 | #1,344 |
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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