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Decatur 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.
Decatur Police Department starts at $76,663 a year — about $36.86 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $8,273 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $5,399 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Decatur, IL run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $86,701 would somewhere at average prices — $10,038 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 56 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 Decatur says about itself
The Mission of the Decatur Police Department is to courageously serve and protect all members of the community with integrity, professionalism, and compassion. The Decatur Police Department aspires to build a community where safety, trust, and justice prosper.
What Decatur does
Decatur Police Department officers perform sworn patrol work protecting life/property, enforcing laws and ordinances, field patrol, preliminary/criminal investigations, traffic control and crash investigation.
Shifts at Decatur
The Patrol Division is a 24/7 operation of 100 sworn officers divided into three operational shifts, each commanded by a shift Lieutenant, with 12 Patrol Sergeants and 85 Patrol Officers.
Three shifts covering a city of 70,000 round the clock, plus gang and traffic enforcement stacked on top of calls. BlueShifts keeps the tour and the extra duty on one calendar.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $76,663 annual starting Patrol Officer salary effective January 1, 2026. — open the source document
$76,663 annual starting Patrol Officer salary effective January 1, 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 Decatur 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. Decatur starts at $76,663, so $5,376 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Decatur Police Department officer make?
Decatur Police Department starts a new officer on $76,663 a year, about $36.86 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 $76,663 annual starting Patrol Officer salary effective January 1, 2026..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Illinois?
It ranks #21 of 35 agencies we have verified in Illinois — 14 pay less, 20 pay more in the state — and #488 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,273 above, and against other municipal agencies $5,399 above.
What shifts do Decatur Police Department officers work?
The Patrol Division is a 24/7 operation of 100 sworn officers divided into three operational shifts, each commanded by a shift Lieutenant, with 12 Patrol Sergeants and 85 Patrol Officers. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Decatur 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 Decatur | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vernon Hills Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $94,460 | +$17,797 | #151 |
| 2 | Wilmette Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,156 | +$16,493 | #165 |
| 3 | Aurora Police Department | Municipal | 328 | $92,248 | +$15,585 | #176 |
| 4 | Des Plaines Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $91,440 | +$14,777 | #186 |
| 5 | Highland Park Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $91,158 | +$14,495 | #191 |
| 6 | Illinois State Police | State | 1,821 | $90,828 | +$14,165 | #199 |
| 7 | River Forest Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $90,106 | +$13,443 | #213 |
| 8 | Elgin Police Department | Municipal | 203 | $88,274 | +$11,611 | #245 |
| 9 | Lake County Sheriff's Office | County | 113 | $87,297 | +$10,634 | #259 |
| 10 | Woodridge Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $84,781 | +$8,118 | #294 |
| 11 | DeKalb Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $83,449 | +$6,786 | #326 |
| 12 | Rolling Meadows Police Department | Municipal | 49 | $81,439 | +$4,776 | #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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