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Arlington Heights Police Department 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.
Arlington Heights Police Department starts at $85,568 a year — about $41.14 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $18,883 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $17,428 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isArlington Heights Police Department reported 105 sworn officers and 29 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 75,155.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. 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 Arlington Heights says about itself
The Arlington Heights Police Department will achieve excellence in policing by protecting, serving, and partnering with our community.
What Arlington Heights does
The Arlington Heights Police Department is a CALEA-accredited agency serving the Village of Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 19 September 2026. Village of Arlington Heights Police Recruitment page, entry-level starting salary — open the source document
Current page read 19 September 2026 (2026 recruitment); top base salary $127,334 in 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 Arlington Heights 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. Arlington Heights starts at $85,568, so $17,428 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Arlington Heights Police Department officer make?
Arlington Heights Police Department starts a new officer on $85,568 a year, about $41.14 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 Village of Arlington Heights Police Recruitment page, entry-level starting salary.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Illinois?
It ranks #14 of 43 agencies we have verified in Illinois — 29 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #341 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $18,883 above, and against other municipal agencies $17,428 above.
Compare with another department
Put Arlington Heights Police Department 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 IL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Arlington | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vernon Hills Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $94,460 | +$8,892 | #192 |
| 2 | Wilmette Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,156 | +$7,588 | #207 |
| 3 | Oak Park Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $92,716 | +$7,148 | #214 |
| 4 | Skokie Police Department | Municipal | 102 | $92,405 | +$6,837 | #219 |
| 5 | Aurora Police Department | Municipal | 328 | $92,248 | +$6,680 | #223 |
| 6 | Des Plaines Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $91,440 | +$5,872 | #235 |
| 7 | Highland Park Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $91,158 | +$5,590 | #240 |
| 8 | Naperville Police Department | Municipal | 186 | $90,965 | +$5,397 | #246 |
| 9 | Illinois State Police | State | 1,821 | $90,828 | +$5,260 | #251 |
| 10 | River Forest Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $90,106 | +$4,538 | #267 |
| 11 | Evanston Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $88,656 | +$3,088 | #292 |
| 12 | Elgin Police Department | Municipal | 203 | $88,274 | +$2,706 | #301 |
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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