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Highland Park 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.
Highland Park Police Department starts at $91,158 a year — about $43.83 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $24,473 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $23,018 above the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isHighland Park Police Department reported 60 sworn officers and 11 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 30,956.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 Highland Park says about itself
The Highland Park Police Department is dedicated to safeguarding persons and property through a committed community partnership by upholding public trust and fostering mutual respect.
What Highland Park does
Highland Park Police Department says its mission is to safeguard people and property through committed community partnership, public trust, mutual respect and services that enhance quality of life. Official City materials emphasize integrity, honesty, dignity, equality and high-quality service. The department is a full-service first responder providing round-the-clock police services, investigations, communications, records, traffic and community services
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Highland Park official Police Officer (Entry Level) — open the source document
Opened 8 May 2026; official entry-level minimum $91,158.16
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 Highland Park 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. Highland Park starts at $91,158, so $23,018 above the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Highland Park Police Department officer make?
Highland Park Police Department starts a new officer on $91,158 a year, about $43.83 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 City of Highland Park official Police Officer (Entry Level).
Is that good pay for a police officer in Illinois?
It ranks #7 of 43 agencies we have verified in Illinois — 36 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #240 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $24,473 above, and against other municipal agencies $23,018 above.
Compare with another department
Put Highland Park 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 Highland | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vernon Hills Police Department | Municipal | 44 | $94,460 | +$3,302 | #192 |
| 2 | Wilmette Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $93,156 | +$1,998 | #207 |
| 3 | Oak Park Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $92,716 | +$1,558 | #214 |
| 4 | Skokie Police Department | Municipal | 102 | $92,405 | +$1,247 | #219 |
| 5 | Aurora Police Department | Municipal | 328 | $92,248 | +$1,090 | #223 |
| 6 | Des Plaines Police Department | Municipal | 97 | $91,440 | +$282 | #235 |
| 8 | Naperville Police Department | Municipal | 186 | $90,965 | −$194 | #246 |
| 9 | Illinois State Police | State | 1,821 | $90,828 | −$330 | #251 |
| 10 | River Forest Police Department | Municipal | 26 | $90,106 | −$1,052 | #267 |
| 11 | Evanston Police Department | Municipal | 140 | $88,656 | −$2,502 | #292 |
| 12 | Elgin Police Department | Municipal | 203 | $88,274 | −$2,884 | #301 |
| 13 | Lake County Sheriff's Office | County | 113 | $87,297 | −$3,861 | #318 |
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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