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San Juan 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.
San Juan County Sheriff's Office starts at $63,045 a year — about $30.31 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,640 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $515 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Farmington, NM run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $71,881 would somewhere at average prices — $8,836 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 57 against a national average of 100, where goods are 96. 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 isSan Juan County Sheriff's Office reported 86 sworn officers and 38 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 San Juan County says about itself
The San Juan County Sheriff's Office is a full service law enforcement agency and the primary agency for the unincorporated, non-reservation portion of San Juan County. This equates to an approximate land area of 2,000 square miles and a population of 127,000 people.
What San Juan County does
San Juan County describes its entry Deputy Sheriff as providing safety and security through patrol, enforcement of laws and ordinances, detention and interviewing of violators, apprehension of suspects, response to calls for assistance and prosecution of cases.
Shifts at San Juan County
The Sheriff's Office provides 24-hour coverage by utilizing three ten-hour shifts in every 24-hour period. The overlap between the shifts is designed to have more deputies working during busy times.
Three ten-hour shifts cover 24 hours in 30 hours of shift time, so the overlap is deliberate and the watch you are on is not simply days, evenings or nights. BlueShifts records the shift you actually work rather than a generic three-watch grid, which matters when the hours straddle midnight.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. San Juan County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff - Entry — open the source document
Opening 1 January 2026; current official entry recruitment; $30.31/hour
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 San Juan 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. San Juan County starts at $63,045, so $520 below the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a San Juan County Sheriff's Office officer make?
San Juan County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $63,045 a year, about $30.31 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 San Juan County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff - Entry.
Is that good pay for a police officer in New Mexico?
It ranks #6 of 22 agencies we have verified in New Mexico — 16 pay less, 5 pay more in the state — and #1,381 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,640 below, and against other county agencies $515 below.
What shifts do San Juan County Sheriff's Office officers work?
The Sheriff's Office provides 24-hour coverage by utilizing three ten-hour shifts in every 24-hour period. The overlap between the shifts is designed to have more deputies working during busy times. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put San Juan 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 San | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Fe Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,046 | +$12,002 | #674 |
| 2 | New Mexico State Police | State | 1,174 | $70,845 | +$7,800 | #891 |
| 3 | Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office | County | 141 | $68,318 | +$5,273 | #1,032 |
| 4 | Farmington Police Department | Municipal | 119 | $66,102 | +$3,057 | #1,179 |
| 5 | Albuquerque Police Department | Municipal | 966 | $65,499 | +$2,454 | #1,220 |
| 7 | Las Vegas Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $62,400 | −$645 | #1,424 |
| 8 | Valencia County Sheriff's Office | County | 48 | $62,150 | −$894 | #1,439 |
| 9 | Lincoln County Sheriff's Office | County | — | $60,757 | −$2,288 | #1,520 |
| 10 | Carlsbad Police Department | Municipal | 57 | $59,842 | −$3,203 | #1,589 |
| 11 | McKinley County Sheriff's Office | County | 37 | $59,675 | −$3,370 | #1,598 |
| 12 | Los Lunas Police Department | Municipal | — | $59,212 | −$3,833 | #1,620 |
| 13 | Belen Police Department | Municipal | — | $57,845 | −$5,200 | #1,696 |
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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