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Fitchburg 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.
Fitchburg Police Department starts at $78,790 a year — about $37.88 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,106 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $10,650 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wisconsin run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $83,735 would somewhere at average prices — $4,945 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 79 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single metro 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 isFitchburg Police Department reported 50 sworn officers and 11 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 35,168.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 Fitchburg says about itself
The members of the Fitchburg Police Department are dedicated to making the Fitchburg community the best it can be, and to maintaining an active community partnership with the citizens and businesses of Fitchburg. The department has 55 authorized sworn staff and 12 civilian employees providing 24-hour police protection, and uses a district policing model to provide community focused patrol and police services. Its use of force policy states that the protection and preservation of all human life, including the lives of individuals being taken into custody, is the department's fundamental objective and the primary duty of all police officers.
What Fitchburg does
Fitchburg Police Department recruits Police Officers for sworn municipal service and separately identifies academy compensation, post-academy compensation and lateral placement.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. employer-controlled City of Fitchburg NEOGOV Police Officer posting — open the source document
Their source is effective 30 January 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.
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How this level compares
Where Fitchburg 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. Fitchburg starts at $78,790, so $10,650 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fitchburg Police Department officer make?
Fitchburg Police Department starts a new officer on $78,790 a year, about $37.88 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 employer-controlled City of Fitchburg NEOGOV Police Officer posting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #2 of 81 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 79 pay less, 1 pay more in the state — and #527 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,106 above, and against other municipal agencies $10,650 above.
Compare with another department
Put Fitchburg 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 WI
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Fitchburg | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$3,827 | #414 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | −$125 | #533 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | −$1,229 | #571 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | −$2,413 | #607 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | −$2,662 | #614 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | −$3,266 | #647 |
| 8 | Wisconsin State Patrol | State | 445 | $75,462 | −$3,328 | #650 |
| 9 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | −$3,688 | #672 |
| 10 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | −$3,702 | #673 |
| 11 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | −$4,095 | #688 |
| 12 | Kenosha Police Department | Municipal | 231 | $74,640 | −$4,150 | #692 |
| 13 | Glendale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $74,040 | −$4,750 | #715 |
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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