How To Become A Sheriff Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sheriff officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sheriff officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.42 an hour? That's $46,632 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSheriff OfficerUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $46,632

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.89%

Asian 2.84%

Black or African American 13.56%

Hispanic or Latino 19.91%

Unknown 4.31%

White 58.49%

Gender

female 14.96%

male 85.04%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.1

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sheriff officer

Explore sheriff officer education requirements

Most common sheriff officer degrees

Bachelor's

44.8 %

Associate

25.0 %

High School Diploma

17.2 %

Start to develop specific sheriff officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	25.82%
Public Safety	15.69%
Emergency Situations	10.73%
Law Enforcement Agencies	10.47%
Transport Prisoners	9.45%

Complete relevant sheriff officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sheriff officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sheriff officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sheriff officer resumes.

Research sheriff officer duties and responsibilities

Serve or issue subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, court orders and citations.
Question individuals or observe persons and establishments to confirm information given to patrol officers.
Participate in community relationships and non-hazardous law enforcement activities.
Serve as first responder for accidents and disasters, applying cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other life-saving procedures as needed.

Prepare your sheriff officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sheriff officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sheriff officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sheriff officer resume templates

Build a professional sheriff officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sheriff officer resume.