Home › Police pay › Florida › Walton County Sheriff's Office
Walton 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.
Walton County Sheriff's Office starts at $61,950 a year — about $29.78 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,735 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $1,610 below the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Florida run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $59,905 somewhere at average prices — $2,045 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 122 against a national average of 100, where goods are 98. 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.
How big the department isWalton County Sheriff's Office reported 206 sworn officers and 241 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 Walton County says about itself
The Walton County Sheriff's Office is a full-service, state accredited public safety agency that serves the entirety of Walton County, Florida. WCSO employs approximately 370 law enforcement employees, including roughly 250 certified deputy sheriffs and 120 administrative employees. The Walton County Sheriff's Office provides full-time law enforcement services in the four main districts of Walton County. In addition, the Walton County Sheriff's Office protects the Walton County Courthouse, the Walton County Courthouse Annex and Walton County Schools.
What Walton County does
The Walton County Sheriff's Office is a full-service, state accredited public safety agency covering the whole of Walton County in the Florida panhandle, seat DeFuniak Springs. IT IS A COMBINED PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCY RATHER THAN A POLICE-ONLY ONE: alongside its law enforcement districts it runs an Emergency Services Division with firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics. It protects the county courthouse, the courthouse annex in South Walton and the county's schools through a school resource deputy unit.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 1 September 2026. Walton County Sheriff's Office employment page, Sworn Positions table: "Deputy Sheriff - FL Certified/Out-of-State Certified, $61,950 Minimum (Based on Experience)", deadline 31 December 2026 — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 January 2025.
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Walton 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. Walton County starts at $61,950, so $1,615 below the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Walton County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Walton County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $61,950 a year, about $29.78 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 Walton County Sheriff's Office employment page, Sworn Positions table: "Deputy Sheriff - FL Certified/Out-of-State Certified, $61,950 Minimum (Based on Experience)", deadline 31 December 2026.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #138 of 303 agencies we have verified in Florida — 165 pay less, 137 pay more in the state — and #1,453 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,735 below, and against other county agencies $1,610 below.
Compare with another department
Put Walton 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 Walton | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $91,007 | +$29,057 | #244 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$19,773 | #433 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$19,050 | #459 |
| 4 | Hillsboro Beach Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,954 | +$19,004 | #461 |
| 5 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$18,962 | #464 |
| 6 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$18,050 | #496 |
| 7 | Indian Creek Village Public Safety Department | Municipal | 10 | $79,850 | +$17,900 | #500 |
| 8 | Sunrise Police Department | Municipal | 190 | $79,071 | +$17,121 | #520 |
| 9 | Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,720 | $78,828 | +$16,878 | #526 |
| 10 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$16,606 | #536 |
| 11 | Longboat Key Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $78,430 | +$16,480 | #543 |
| 12 | Manalapan Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $78,280 | +$16,330 | #549 |
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.
Scan to install
