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Pender 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.
Pender County Sheriff's Office starts at $54,577 a year — about $26.24 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,107 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $8,982 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wilmington, NC run about 4% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $56,603 would somewhere at average prices — $2,025 more than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 88 against a national average of 100, 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.
How big the department isPender County Sheriff's Office reported 98 sworn officers and 56 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 Pender County says about itself
The mission of the Pender County Sheriff's Office is to preserve the peace, maintain an orderly society, and to protect the life and property of all who live within or pass through our borders.
What Pender County does
Pender County Sheriff's Office says its mission is to preserve the peace, maintain an orderly society, and protect the life and property of everyone who lives within or passes through the county. It says this is accomplished through service to the community and fair and consistent enforcement of North Carolina law.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Pender County Career Opportunities — Deputy Sheriff — open the source document
Official continuous county posting; opened 1 October 2024 and current when checked 8 August 2026; salary range $54,577.36-$67,539.48 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.
How this level compares
Where Pender 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. Pender County starts at $54,577, so $8,988 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Pender County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Pender County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $54,577 a year, about $26.24 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 Pender County Career Opportunities — Deputy Sheriff.
Is that good pay for a police officer in North Carolina?
It ranks #32 of 53 agencies we have verified in North Carolina — 21 pay less, 31 pay more in the state — and #1,887 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,107 below, and against other county agencies $8,982 below.
Compare with another department
Put Pender 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 NC
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Pender | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knightdale Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $67,363 | +$12,786 | #1,104 |
| 2 | Cary Police Department | Municipal | 194 | $65,104 | +$10,527 | #1,247 |
| 3 | Wake Forest Police Department | Municipal | 96 | $65,093 | +$10,516 | #1,248 |
| 4 | Appalachian State University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 36 | $64,084 | +$9,507 | #1,312 |
| 5 | North Carolina State Highway Patrol | State | — | $63,250 | +$8,673 | #1,368 |
| 6 | Huntersville Police Department | Municipal | 92 | $62,647 | +$8,070 | #1,400 |
| 7 | Apex Police Department | Municipal | 104 | $62,524 | +$7,947 | #1,408 |
| 8 | Fuquay-Varina Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $62,291 | +$7,714 | #1,430 |
| 9 | Johnston County Sheriff's Office | County | 124 | $62,213 | +$7,635 | #1,436 |
| 10 | Chapel Hill Police Department | Municipal | 82 | $61,451 | +$6,874 | #1,477 |
| 11 | Raleigh Police Department | Municipal | 713 | $61,417 | +$6,840 | #1,478 |
| 12 | Duke University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 57 | $60,195 | +$5,618 | #1,551 |
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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