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Philadelphia 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.
Philadelphia Sheriff's Office starts at $56,810 a year — about $27.31 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,580 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $8,564 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $55,395 somewhere at average prices — $1,415 less than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 114, 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 Philadelphia says about itself
The Sheriff's Office of the City and County of Philadelphia is committed to service, procedural justice, and the sanctity of human life. Our duties encompass protecting the lives, property and rights of all people within a framework of service, uncompromising integrity, fiscal responsibility, professionalism, vigilance, and bias free conduct.
What Philadelphia does
The Sheriff's Office of the City and County of Philadelphia says it is committed to service, procedural justice and the sanctity of human life. Its duties include protecting lives, property and rights within a framework of integrity, fiscal responsibility, professionalism, vigilance and bias-free conduct.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. City of Philadelphia official Deputy Sheriff - Certification Required posting — open the source document
The published $53,923 is the entry-level Deputy Sheriff Recruit training classification. Philadelphia separately publishes Deputy Sheriff - Certification Required at $56,810 minimum, establishing the post-certification rate.
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 Philadelphia 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. Philadelphia starts at $56,810, so $8,564 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Philadelphia Sheriff's Office officer make?
Philadelphia Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $56,810 a year, about $27.31 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 Philadelphia official Deputy Sheriff - Certification Required posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Pennsylvania?
It ranks #14 of 23 agencies we have verified in Pennsylvania — 9 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #1,373 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,580 below, and against other county agencies $8,564 below.
Compare with another department
Put Philadelphia 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 PA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Philadelphia | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abington Township Police Department | Municipal | — | $103,421 | +$46,611 | #71 |
| 2 | Lower Merion Township Police Department | Municipal | 118 | $90,162 | +$33,352 | #212 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State Police | State | 4,634 | $73,087 | +$16,277 | #624 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Police Department | Municipal | 5,065 | $72,651 | +$15,841 | #643 |
| 5 | Allentown Police Department | Municipal | 215 | $72,607 | +$15,797 | #645 |
| 6 | Manheim Township Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $72,334 | +$15,524 | #651 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $68,952 | +$12,142 | #817 |
| 8 | Gettysburg Borough Police Department | Municipal | — | $63,232 | +$6,422 | #1,101 |
| 9 | Northampton County Sheriff's Department | County | 59 | $60,606 | +$3,796 | #1,209 |
| 10 | York County Sheriff's Office | County | 107 | $58,344 | +$1,534 | #1,303 |
| 11 | Harrisburg Bureau of Police | Municipal | — | $58,100 | +$1,290 | #1,316 |
| 12 | Lancaster County Sheriff's Office | County | 55 | $57,803 | +$993 | #1,338 |
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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