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Germantown 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.
Germantown Police Department starts at $71,188 a year — about $34.22 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $2,798 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $76 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wisconsin run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $75,655 would somewhere at average prices — $4,467 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 isGermantown Police Department reported 39 sworn officers and 7 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 21,062.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.
About Germantown
Germantown Police Department covers a Washington County village on the rural edge of the Milwaukee metropolitan area, staffing its office around the clock every day of the year with 43 employees including 35 sworn officers. Officers work a 4-2 rotation on 8.5-hour shifts. The department fields two K-9 units and an emotional support dog, teaches D.A.R.E. to the village's fifth graders, and runs a citizens police academy, an Explorer post for young people considering the work, and identity-theft and internet-safety seminars.
Germantown’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Germantown officers work a 4-2 rotation on 8.5-hour shifts — four days on, two days off.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
WorkingOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
Germantown publishes the days on and off but not which are days and which are nights. In BlueShifts you choose that yourself — every shift can be a day, a night or a 24-hour tour, and the calendar marks it with a sun, a moon or a clock.
Four on, two off on 8.5-hour shifts is a six-day cycle running against a seven-day week, so your weekends move every time round. BlueShifts builds that once and keeps it right for as long as you need.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $71,187.99 annual minimum Current official recruitment reviewed under the project definition; trainee/lateral-only pay was not substituted. — open the source document
$71,187.99 annual minimum Current official recruitment reviewed under the project definition; trainee/lateral-only pay was not substituted.
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.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
How this level compares
Where Germantown 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. Germantown starts at $71,188, so $99 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Germantown Police Department officer make?
Germantown Police Department starts a new officer on $71,188 a year, about $34.22 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 $71,187.99 annual minimum Current official recruitment reviewed under the project definition; trainee/lateral-only pay was not substituted..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #17 of 74 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 57 pay less, 16 pay more in the state — and #714 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $2,798 above, and against other municipal agencies $76 below.
What shifts do Germantown Police Department officers work?
Germantown officers work a 4-2 rotation on 8.5-hour shifts — four days on, two days off. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Germantown 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 Germantown | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$11,430 | #339 |
| 2 | Fitchburg Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $78,790 | +$7,602 | #432 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | +$7,478 | #438 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | +$6,373 | #469 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | +$5,190 | #498 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | +$4,940 | #505 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | +$4,337 | #535 |
| 8 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | +$3,914 | #555 |
| 9 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | +$3,900 | #556 |
| 10 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | +$3,507 | #568 |
| 11 | Kenosha Police Department | Municipal | 231 | $74,640 | +$3,452 | #572 |
| 12 | Glendale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $74,040 | +$2,852 | #592 |
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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