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Elgin 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.
Elgin Police Department starts at $88,274 a year — about $42.44 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $19,884 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $17,010 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN run about 4% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $85,211 somewhere at average prices — $3,063 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 84 against a national average of 100, where goods are 107. 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.
How big the department isElgin Police Department reported 203 sworn officers and 62 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 114,717.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 Elgin says about itself
The Elgin Police Department is dedicated to working in partnership with the community to promote safety and enhance the quality of life by serving with professionalism, encouraging open communication and embracing diversity. The department's authorized sworn officer strength is 195 officers.
What Elgin does
Elgin officers preserve public peace, protect life and property, prevent crime, detect and arrest law violators, and enforce Illinois law and City ordinances.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $88,274 annual minimum. Official City March 24, 2026 Police Officer recruitment publishes $88,274-$124,988 annually for the entry Police Officer hiring process. — open the source document
$88,274 annual minimum. Official City March 24, 2026 Police Officer recruitment publishes $88,274-$124,988 annually for the entry Police Officer hiring process.
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 Elgin 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. Elgin starts at $88,274, so $16,987 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Elgin Police Department officer make?
Elgin Police Department starts a new officer on $88,274 a year, about $42.44 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 $88,274 annual minimum. Official City March 24, 2026 Police Officer recruitment publishes $88,274-$124,988 annually for the entry Police Officer hiring process..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Illinois?
It ranks #8 of 35 agencies we have verified in Illinois — 27 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #245 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $19,884 above, and against other municipal agencies $17,010 above.
Compare with another department
Put Elgin 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 Elgin | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vernon Hills Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $94,460 | +$6,186 | #151 |
| 2 | Wilmette Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,156 | +$4,882 | #165 |
| 3 | Aurora Police Department | Municipal | 328 | $92,248 | +$3,974 | #176 |
| 4 | Des Plaines Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $91,440 | +$3,166 | #186 |
| 5 | Highland Park Police Department | Municipal | 60 | $91,158 | +$2,884 | #191 |
| 6 | Illinois State Police | State | 1,821 | $90,828 | +$2,554 | #199 |
| 7 | River Forest Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $90,106 | +$1,832 | #213 |
| 9 | Lake County Sheriff's Office | County | 113 | $87,297 | −$977 | #259 |
| 10 | Woodridge Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $84,781 | −$3,493 | #294 |
| 11 | DeKalb Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $83,449 | −$4,825 | #326 |
| 12 | Rolling Meadows Police Department | Municipal | 49 | $81,439 | −$6,835 | #362 |
| 13 | Bloomington Police Department | Municipal | — | $81,304 | −$6,970 | #368 |
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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