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Pinellas 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.
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office starts at $68,960 a year — about $33.15 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $570 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $3,586 above the median for county agencies.
How big the department isPinellas County Sheriff's Office reported 805 sworn officers and 1,549 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.
About Pinellas County
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office provides law-enforcement, corrections, court-security and child-protection services and contracts with municipalities for police service. Official materials emphasize public safety, professional service, accountability and partnership with residents.
Shifts at Pinellas County
On completing the academy, members are assigned to 12-hour shifts, and the position requires working rotating shifts including nights, weekends and holidays.
The agency publishes the shift length but not a named cycle. These are the 12-hour rotations departments most often build on it: Pitman, 4 on, 4 off, DuPont, Panama.
Rotating 12s across nights, weekends and holidays means the pattern never repeats inside a week. Build the cycle once in BlueShifts and every month is filled in — with a sun, a moon or a clock on each day so you can see at a glance which tour you are on.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 15 August 2026. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office — Deputy Sheriff Recruit (Law Enforcement) bulletin, agency's own recruitment system — open the source document
The Sheriff's Office pays $68,960 a year while a recruit attends the 22-week Law Enforcement Academy it sponsors, and the same figure is the floor of the certified Deputy Sheriff range, which runs to $97,298. Recruits with fewer than three years' certified experience are also eligible for a $3,000 signing bonus. On completing the academy, members are assigned to 12-hour shifts.
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 Pinellas 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. Pinellas County starts at $68,960, so $3,586 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $68,960 a year, about $33.15 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 Pinellas County Sheriff's Office — Deputy Sheriff Recruit (Law Enforcement) bulletin, agency's own recruitment system.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #45 of 141 agencies we have verified in Florida — 96 pay less, 44 pay more in the state — and #816 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $570 above, and against other county agencies $3,586 above.
What shifts do Pinellas County Sheriff's Office officers work?
On completing the academy, members are assigned to 12-hour shifts, and the position requires working rotating shifts including nights, weekends and holidays. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Pinellas 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 FL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Pinellas | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $86,674 | +$17,714 | #270 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$12,763 | #354 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$12,040 | #379 |
| 4 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$11,952 | #383 |
| 5 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$11,040 | #411 |
| 6 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$9,596 | #441 |
| 7 | Coral Springs Police Department | Municipal | 222 | $77,516 | +$8,556 | #470 |
| 8 | Boynton Beach Police Department | Municipal | 173 | $76,650 | +$7,690 | #490 |
| 9 | North Palm Beach Police Department | Municipal | 37 | $76,378 | +$7,418 | #497 |
| 10 | Naples Police Department | Municipal | 74 | $76,320 | +$7,360 | #501 |
| 11 | West Palm Beach Police Department | Municipal | 295 | $75,921 | +$6,961 | #524 |
| 12 | Bay Harbor Islands Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $75,836 | +$6,876 | #528 |
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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