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Spokane 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.
Spokane County Sheriff's Office starts at $78,624 a year — about $37.80 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $11,939 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $15,064 above the median for county agencies.
How big the department isSpokane County Sheriff's Office reported 135 sworn officers and 31 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 Spokane County says about itself
Partnering with our community and our professional staff, we will deliver the premier level of public safety through integrity, training, diverse capability, innovation, accountability, and respect for all. Our vision is to be the premier law enforcement agency in the Northwest, achieving the highest level of public safety, and our motto is: in partnership with the community, dedicated to your safety. Your Spokane County Sheriff's Office consistently invests available resources toward community-wide safety and security, economic viability, and the positive, nationwide reputation of our County, providing a highly-trained, dedicated team of professionals working in partnership with our community.
What Spokane County does
Spokane County Sheriff's Office provides patrol, investigations, corrections support, civil, court-security and specialized law-enforcement services in unincorporated communities and contract jurisdictions. Official County materials emphasize public safety, professional service and community partnership.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Spokane County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff - Entry Level — open the source document
$78,624. Current 2026 entry-level recruitment; verified 8 August 2026
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 Spokane 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. Spokane County starts at $78,624, so $15,059 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Spokane County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Spokane County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $78,624 a year, about $37.80 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 Spokane County official GovernmentJobs posting — Deputy Sheriff - Entry Level.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Washington?
It ranks #68 of 92 agencies we have verified in Washington — 24 pay less, 67 pay more in the state — and #535 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $11,939 above, and against other county agencies $15,064 above.
Compare with another department
Put Spokane 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 WA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Spokane | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Police Department | Municipal | 1,064 | $117,792 | +$39,168 | #38 |
| 2 | Redmond Police Department | Municipal | 81 | $110,435 | +$31,811 | #59 |
| 3 | Auburn Police Department | Municipal | 120 | $108,386 | +$29,762 | #68 |
| 4 | Lynnwood Police Department | Municipal | 71 | $106,371 | +$27,747 | #81 |
| 5 | Everett Police Department | Municipal | 207 | $102,516 | +$23,892 | #106 |
| 6 | Vancouver Police Department | Municipal | 226 | $101,832 | +$23,208 | #110 |
| 7 | Kirkland Police Department | Municipal | 108 | $101,218 | +$22,594 | #118 |
| 8 | Tukwila Police Department | Municipal | 76 | $101,064 | +$22,440 | #120 |
| 9 | Bothell Police Department | Municipal | 70 | $101,055 | +$22,431 | #121 |
| 10 | Mount Vernon Police Department | Municipal | 43 | $100,836 | +$22,212 | #125 |
| 11 | Kennewick Police Department | Municipal | 107 | $100,104 | +$21,480 | #128 |
| 12 | Edmonds Police Department | Municipal | 48 | $99,168 | +$20,544 | #140 |
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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