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Hilliard 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.
Hilliard Police Department starts at $79,248 a year — about $38.10 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,563 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $11,108 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Ohio run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $85,420 would somewhere at average prices — $6,172 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 73 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 isHilliard Police Department reported 63 sworn officers and 13 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 39,258.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 Hilliard says about itself
Our badge shows we protect and serve. Our approach shows we're part of the community.
What Hilliard does
The Hilliard Police Department serves the city of Hilliard, Ohio, a Columbus suburb in Franklin County, from 5171 Northwest Parkway. It states its core values as Integrity, Commitment, Cooperation and Professionalism. Patrol officers work five eight-hour shifts with two days off each week. New officers attend a roughly six-month, non-residential academy, then a fifteen-week field training programme; applicants who already hold a valid Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy certificate go straight to field training. The City publishes its whole officer pay ladder by year, from the academy rate to a three-years-six-months step.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. City of Hilliard, Join the HPD Team — Compensation Rates for 2026: "Field Training $38.10 / $79,248" — open the source document
$79,248 is the City's own annual figure and no arithmetic has been applied to it; it prints the hourly equivalent, $38.10, beside it. The City publishes the whole ladder for 2026: Academy $35.64/$74,131, Field Training $38.10/$79,248, Field Training Completion $41.29/$85,883, One Year Six Months $45.17/$93,953, Two Years Six Months $50.08/$104,166, Three Years Six Months $56.88/$118,310. The ACADEMY rate, $74,131, is barred. The step immediately above it is Field Training, which is where a recruit lands on finishing the academy - the City states that following the academy recruits must complete a fifteen-week field training programme - so $79,248 is the post-academy sworn rate and the measure. Field Training Completion at $85,883 is the step after that and is not the entry. THE ENTRY TEST IS SETTLED FROM THE OTHER SIDE TOO: the City says an applicant who already holds a valid OPOTA certificate may proceed directly to the fifteen-week field training programme, so certification skips the academy step - it does not buy a different ladder. The academy runs about six months and is non-residential; recruits return home at night. Excluded: nothing else is priced on the page. THE LADDER IS DATED BY YEAR - 'Compensation Rates for 2026'. NAME TRAP: Hilliard, Ohio is a Columbus suburb in Franklin County; there is also a Hilliard in Florida with its own department. SHIFT PATTERN PUBLISHED: patrol officers work five eight-hour shifts with two days off each week.
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 Hilliard 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. Hilliard starts at $79,248, so $11,108 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Hilliard Police Department officer make?
Hilliard Police Department starts a new officer on $79,248 a year, about $38.10 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 Hilliard, Join the HPD Team — Compensation Rates for 2026: "Field Training $38.10 / $79,248".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Ohio?
It ranks #7 of 53 agencies we have verified in Ohio — 46 pay less, 6 pay more in the state — and #515 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,563 above, and against other municipal agencies $11,108 above.
Compare with another department
Put Hilliard 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 OH
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Hilliard | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westlake Police Department | Municipal | — | $88,712 | +$9,464 | #291 |
| 2 | University Heights Police Department | Municipal | 29 | $82,259 | +$3,011 | #421 |
| 3 | Powell Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $81,426 | +$2,178 | #444 |
| 4 | Springfield Police Department | Municipal | 123 | $80,764 | +$1,516 | #468 |
| 5 | Stow Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $80,288 | +$1,040 | #486 |
| 6 | Cincinnati Police Department | Municipal | 971 | $79,359 | +$111 | #513 |
| 8 | Kettering Police Department | Municipal | 79 | $79,227 | −$21 | #517 |
| 9 | Canfield Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $79,002 | −$246 | #522 |
| 10 | Mentor Police Department | Municipal | — | $77,849 | −$1,399 | #563 |
| 11 | Dayton Police Department | Municipal | 342 | $77,411 | −$1,837 | #575 |
| 12 | West Chester Township Police Department | Municipal | 92 | $77,027 | −$2,221 | #584 |
| 13 | Beavercreek Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $76,918 | −$2,330 | #588 |
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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