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Champaign 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.
Champaign County Sheriff's Office starts at $67,267 a year — about $32.34 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,123 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $1,893 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Champaign-Urbana, IL run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $72,561 would somewhere at average prices — $5,294 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 72 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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.
What Champaign County says about itself
It is the mission of the Champaign County Sheriff's Office to provide a high level of professional and ethical service to all people living in and visiting Champaign County without bias or discrimination; to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Illinois; to exceed state, federal and industry standards; and to collaborate with community stakeholders to accomplish community initiatives and combat community-identified problems.
What Champaign County does
Champaign County Sheriff's Office recruits entry-level patrol deputies to provide county law-enforcement service. Its official applicant information covers patrol-deputy testing, qualifications and employment requirements and notes the benefit of take-home patrol vehicles for deputies residing within Champaign County.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Champaign County Sheriff's Office official applicant-testing page — Entry-Level Patrol Deputy — open the source document
Current 2026 applicant information; official first-year patrol-deputy starting salary approximately $67,267
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 Champaign 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Champaign County starts at $67,267, so $1,893 above the county middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Champaign County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Champaign County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $67,267 a year, about $32.34 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 Champaign County Sheriff's Office official applicant-testing page — Entry-Level Patrol Deputy.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Illinois?
It ranks #29 of 35 agencies we have verified in Illinois — 6 pay less, 28 pay more in the state — and #907 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,123 below, and against other county agencies $1,893 above.
Compare with another department
Put Champaign 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 IL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Champaign | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vernon Hills Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $94,460 | +$27,193 | #151 |
| 2 | Wilmette Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,156 | +$25,889 | #165 |
| 3 | Aurora Police Department | Municipal | 328 | $92,248 | +$24,981 | #176 |
| 4 | Des Plaines Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $91,440 | +$24,173 | #186 |
| 5 | Highland Park Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $91,158 | +$23,891 | #191 |
| 6 | Illinois State Police | State | 1,821 | $90,828 | +$23,561 | #199 |
| 7 | River Forest Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $90,106 | +$22,839 | #213 |
| 8 | Elgin Police Department | Municipal | 203 | $88,274 | +$21,007 | #245 |
| 9 | Lake County Sheriff's Office | County | 113 | $87,297 | +$20,030 | #259 |
| 10 | Woodridge Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $84,781 | +$17,514 | #294 |
| 11 | DeKalb Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $83,449 | +$16,182 | #326 |
| 12 | Rolling Meadows Police Department | Municipal | 49 | $81,439 | +$14,172 | #362 |
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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