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Rio Arriba 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.
Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office starts at $51,709 a year — about $24.86 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $14,976 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $11,851 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in New Mexico run about 8% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $56,076 would somewhere at average prices — $4,367 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 74 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 Rio Arriba County
The Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office polices the northern New Mexico county that runs from the Espanola Valley up the Chama and the Rio Grande to the Colorado line, a landscape of small Hispano and Pueblo villages, national forest and the Jicarilla Apache boundary. It works from two offices, one at the county seat in Tierra Amarilla and one in Espanola, the county's largest town and the place the deputy posting names as its duty station. The office describes its work as a partnership with residents, community groups and businesses rather than as enforcement alone, and asks Spanish alongside English of the deputies it hires. Sheriff Lorenzo Aguilar leads it, with Undersheriff Anthony G. Tafoya.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 22 September 2026. Rio Arriba County, Job Description, "SHERIFF DEPUTY", Department Sheriff, Supervisor Sergeant, Location Espanola, Salary Classification "NE6", compensation "$24.86 - $34.80", Full Time, Non-Exempt, "Posted: August 14, 2026"; under requirements, "Successful completion of the Law Enforcement Academy required". — open the source document
$51,708.80 is $24.86 an hour x 2,080, the bottom of the county's own posted band for the deputy class; the county prices hourly and states no annual, so the multiplication is mine. THE BAND'S FLOOR IS THE FIGURE HERE FOR A REASON THAT IS PRINTED, NOT ASSUMED. The posting makes academy completion a condition of the job - "Successful completion of the Law Enforcement Academy required" - so every rate in this band, the bottom one included, is paid to a certified officer. Nothing beneath it exists: the county's employment page carried sixteen live postings when this was read and the only two law-enforcement-adjacent grades below deputy are detention ones, posted as a pair, "Detention Officer Recruit" and "Detention Officer". SO RIO ARRIBA DOES USE THE WORD 'RECRUIT' WHEN IT MEANS A PRE-SERVICE CLASS, AND IT DOES NOT USE IT FOR DEPUTIES - there is no deputy cadet or recruit posting, and no uncertified deputy rate, which is what separates this county from Dona Ana and Otero, where the uncertified cadet stream is named and priced. The posting also sets no minimum years of law enforcement service - only the diploma, the academy and the license - so $24.86 is what the county offers a certified deputy with no prior sworn service, and $34.80 is the top of the same grade. GRADE NE6 IS NAMED BUT NOT PUBLISHED: the county names the classification on the posting and publishes no table that says what NE6 pays, so the posting is the whole source and the band on its face is all there is.
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 Rio Arriba 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. Rio Arriba County starts at $51,709, so $11,856 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $51,709 a year, about $24.86 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 Rio Arriba County, Job Description, "SHERIFF DEPUTY", Department Sheriff, Supervisor Sergeant, Location Espanola, Salary Classification "NE6", compensation "$24.86 - $34.80", Full Time, Non-Exempt, "Posted: August 14, 2026"; under requirements, "Successful completion of the Law Enforcement Academy required"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Mexico?
It ranks #20 of 22 agencies we have verified in New Mexico — 2 pay less, 19 pay more in the state — and #2,004 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $14,976 below, and against other county agencies $11,851 below.
Compare with another department
Put Rio Arriba 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 NM
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Rio | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Fe Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,046 | +$23,338 | #674 |
| 2 | New Mexico State Police | State | 1,174 | $70,845 | +$19,136 | #891 |
| 3 | Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office | County | 141 | $68,318 | +$16,609 | #1,032 |
| 4 | Farmington Police Department | Municipal | 119 | $66,102 | +$14,393 | #1,179 |
| 5 | Albuquerque Police Department | Municipal | 966 | $65,499 | +$13,790 | #1,220 |
| 6 | San Juan County Sheriff's Office | County | 86 | $63,045 | +$11,336 | #1,381 |
| 7 | Las Vegas Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $62,400 | +$10,691 | #1,424 |
| 8 | Valencia County Sheriff's Office | County | 48 | $62,150 | +$10,442 | #1,439 |
| 9 | Lincoln County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $60,757 | +$9,048 | #1,520 |
| 10 | Carlsbad Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $59,842 | +$8,133 | #1,589 |
| 11 | McKinley County Sheriff's Office | County | 37 | $59,675 | +$7,966 | #1,598 |
| 12 | Los Lunas Police Department | Municipal | — | $59,212 | +$7,503 | #1,620 |
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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