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Pend Oreille 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.
Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office starts at $65,674 a year — about $31.57 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,011 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $2,114 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Washington run about 7% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $61,370 somewhere at average prices — $4,304 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 126 against a national average of 100, where goods are 104. 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.
How big the department isPend Oreille County Sheriff's Office reported 15 sworn officers and 21 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 Pend Oreille County says about itself
The Office of the Sheriff - Dedicated to making Pend Oreille County the safest in the state through excellence in public safety.
What Pend Oreille County does
The Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office polices the narrow strip of far northeastern Washington that runs up the Pend Oreille River from Newport to the Canadian border, between Idaho and the Colville National Forest. It works in patrol, civil, corrections and dispatch divisions, and its deputies are resident deputies who may be required to live anywhere in the county at the Sheriff's direction.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 22 September 2026. Pend Oreille County Civil Service Commission examination announcement, "Entry and Lateral Sheriff's Deputy", signed by the Commission 22 January 2025: "Starting salary for Entry: Step 1, $5,472.80/month. Starting salary for Lateral: Step 2, $5,701.81/month to Step 4, $6,156.90/month, DOE." — open the source document
$65,673.60 is $5,472.80 x 12; the announcement states the rate per month in terms, so only the multiplication is mine. THIS IS THE CLEANEST ENTRY-VERSUS-LATERAL STATEMENT ON THE ROSTER: one sentence names entry as Step 1 and lateral as Step 2 to Step 4, so the figure needs no inference about which step a new hire takes. The lateral definition is spelled out too - twenty-four of the last thirty-six months as a full-time state, county or municipal police officer - which is prior sworn service, the only thing that disqualifies a figure here. ACADEMY STATUS DOES NOT CHANGE THE ENTRY RATE: the announcement requires only a high school diploma, age twenty-one and a driving license of an entry candidate, and puts the academy on the lateral side of the line, where an out-of-state lateral who has not been through the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Academy must pass the equivalency test in the first twelve months. No recruit, cadet or trainee wage is named. Excluded from the figure: the lateral band, $5,701.81 to $6,156.90; longevity, which the announcement lists among the benefits without pricing it; and the separately advertised Corrections Officer and Communications Officer classes. ONE THING THE FIGURE CARRIES: Pend Oreille deputies are resident deputies, and an appointee must relocate anywhere within the county at the Sheriff's request. THE DOCUMENT IS DATED 22 JANUARY 2025 and the vacancy is open until filled, so this is a 2025 rate still being advertised in September 2026, not a 2026 one.
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.
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How this level compares
Where Pend Oreille 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. Pend Oreille County starts at $65,674, so $2,109 above the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $65,674 a year, about $31.57 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 Pend Oreille County Civil Service Commission examination announcement, "Entry and Lateral Sheriff's Deputy", signed by the Commission 22 January 2025: "Starting salary for Entry: Step 1, $5,472.80/month. Starting salary for Lateral: Step 2, $5,701.81/month to Step 4, $6,156.90/month, DOE.".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Washington?
It ranks #86 of 92 agencies we have verified in Washington — 6 pay less, 85 pay more in the state — and #1,209 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,011 below, and against other county agencies $2,114 above.
Compare with another department
Put Pend Oreille 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 WA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Pend | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Police Department | Municipal | 1,064 | $117,792 | +$52,118 | #38 |
| 2 | Redmond Police Department | Municipal | 81 | $110,435 | +$44,761 | #59 |
| 3 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $108,386 | +$42,713 | #68 |
| 4 | Lynnwood Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $106,371 | +$40,698 | #81 |
| 5 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 207 | $102,516 | +$36,842 | #106 |
| 6 | Vancouver Police Department | Municipal | 226 | $101,832 | +$36,158 | #110 |
| 7 | Kirkland Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $101,218 | +$35,544 | #118 |
| 8 | Tukwila Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $101,064 | +$35,390 | #120 |
| 9 | Bothell Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $101,055 | +$35,381 | #121 |
| 10 | Mount Vernon Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $100,836 | +$35,162 | #125 |
| 11 | Kennewick Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $100,104 | +$34,430 | #128 |
| 12 | Edmonds Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $99,168 | +$33,494 | #140 |
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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