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Kenosha 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.
Kenosha Police Department starts at $74,640 a year — about $35.88 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,250 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $3,376 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Kenosha, WI run about 1% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $73,815 somewhere at average prices — $825 less than the headline figure. That average hides a wide spread: utilities at 86, where goods are 106. 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 isKenosha Police Department reported 231 sworn officers and 13 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.3 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 99,483.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 Kenosha says about itself
The Mission Statement of the Kenosha Police Department is "To Strengthen and Serve Our Community by Putting People First." Our core values (R.I.S.E.) are Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence. We strive to embrace and promote this mission and our core values in all we do.
What Kenosha does
The Kenosha Police Department says its mission is to strengthen and serve the community by putting people first. Its R.I.S.E. values are Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence, and its services include emergency and non-emergency response, preventative and directed patrol, enforcement of municipal ordinances and state laws, public education and community engagement
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Kenosha official Police Officer 2027 — open the source document
Opened 1 June 2026; official starting salary $6,220/month = $74,640 annually. The recruitment accepts non-certified applicants and sends them to the 720-hour police academy after hire; prior police experience is not required
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 Kenosha 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. Kenosha starts at $74,640, so $3,353 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Kenosha Police Department officer make?
Kenosha Police Department starts a new officer on $74,640 a year, about $35.88 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 City of Kenosha official Police Officer 2027.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #11 of 74 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 63 pay less, 10 pay more in the state — and #572 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,250 above, and against other municipal agencies $3,376 above.
Compare with another department
Put Kenosha 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 Kenosha | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$7,978 | #339 |
| 2 | Fitchburg Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $78,790 | +$4,150 | #432 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | +$4,026 | #438 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | +$2,921 | #469 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | +$1,738 | #498 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | +$1,488 | #505 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | +$885 | #535 |
| 8 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | +$462 | #555 |
| 9 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | +$448 | #556 |
| 10 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | +$55 | #568 |
| 12 | Glendale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $74,040 | −$600 | #592 |
| 13 | Washburn County Sheriff's Office | County | 22 | $72,696 | −$1,944 | #642 |
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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