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Orange 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.
Orange County Sheriff's Office starts at $60,902 a year — about $29.28 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,488 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $4,472 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Texas run about 3% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,749 would somewhere at average prices — $1,847 more than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 88, where goods are 98. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single metro 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.
About Orange County
Orange County Sheriff's Office covers roughly 380 square miles and more than 85,000 residents in the far southeast corner of Texas, bordering Louisiana to the east and the Gulf to the south — both a border and a coastal county. It works from an office in the city of Orange with a substation at Vidor, running patrol, civil and transport divisions alongside the county jail
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 August 2026. Orange County / OCSOEA collective bargaining agreement 2023-2026, Attachment 4 Sheriff's Pay Matrix — open the source document
Collective bargaining agreement among Orange County, the Orange County Sheriff and the Orange County Sheriff's Office Employees Association, 1 Oct 2023 to 30 Sep 2026, approved by Commissioners Court in open court in 2023. Attachment 4, the Sheriff's Pay Matrix, sets Deputy I (first year) at $29.28 an hour for 2025-2026, which is $60,902.40 a year on 2,080 hours. Deputy I is the no-prior-service step: Article 3 defines a Deputy as any full-time employee certified by TCOLE as a peace officer, and Article 16.07 lets the Sheriff credit a newly hired employee's prior law enforcement or corrections experience only up to the SECOND step, so an entrant with no service starts at the first.
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.
Entry pay, 2023–2025
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
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How this level compares
Where Orange 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. Orange County starts at $60,902, so $4,472 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Orange County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Orange County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $60,902 a year, about $29.28 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 Orange County / OCSOEA collective bargaining agreement 2023-2026, Attachment 4 Sheriff's Pay Matrix.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Texas?
It ranks #110 of 140 agencies we have verified in Texas — 30 pay less, 109 pay more in the state — and #1,200 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,488 below, and against other county agencies $4,472 below.
Compare with another department
Put Orange 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 TX
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Orange | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allen Police Department | Municipal | 153 | $91,106 | +$30,204 | #192 |
| 2 | Frisco Police Department | Municipal | 270 | $90,750 | +$29,848 | #200 |
| 3 | Plano Police Department | Municipal | 414 | $90,729 | +$29,827 | #201 |
| 4 | Grand Prairie Police Department | Municipal | 287 | $90,000 | +$29,098 | #216 |
| 5 | Hurst Police Department | Municipal | — | $87,048 | +$26,146 | #264 |
| 6 | Lewisville Police Department | Municipal | 181 | $86,268 | +$25,366 | #276 |
| 7 | Coppell Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $84,968 | +$24,066 | #293 |
| 8 | Rockwall Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $84,448 | +$23,546 | #300 |
| 9 | The Colony Police Department | Municipal | — | $84,082 | +$23,180 | #306 |
| 10 | Baytown Police Department | Municipal | — | $84,049 | +$23,147 | #307 |
| 11 | McKinney Police Department | Municipal | 248 | $83,992 | +$23,090 | #309 |
| 12 | Mesquite Police Department | Municipal | 260 | $83,869 | +$22,966 | #312 |
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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