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Lancaster 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.
Lancaster Police Department starts at $59,280 a year — about $28.50 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $7,987 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $9,506 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Ohio run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $63,897 would somewhere at average prices — $4,617 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 isLancaster Police Department reported 75 sworn officers and 19 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 41,935.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 Lancaster says about itself
The Lancaster Police Department exceeded 77,000 calls for service in 2025, playing a crucial role in the safety of the community.
What Lancaster does
The Lancaster Police Department serves the City of Lancaster, the county seat of Fairfield County, Ohio.
Lancaster’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Patrol Officers work "a regular schedule which consists of five (5) eight (8) hour days on and two (2) days off", and "There will be no rotation of shifts in the Department."
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
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.
Five eights and two off is a fixed week, and the contract says shifts do not rotate - so the pattern holds until you bid a different one. BlueShifts saves it once and fills in every month ahead, with the off-duty work you pick up counted alongside it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 20 September 2026. City of Lancaster and FOP Ohio Labor Council agreement, Article 60, Patrol Officer Pay, Starting — open the source document
The 2023 wage year of the agreement running 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2023; $28.50/hr, $2,280.00 a fortnight. The contract labels its wage years by year, with no month or day.
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.
Entry pay, 2021–2023
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
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 Lancaster 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Lancaster starts at $59,280, so $9,506 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lancaster Police Department officer make?
Lancaster Police Department starts a new officer on $59,280 a year, about $28.50 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 Lancaster and FOP Ohio Labor Council agreement, Article 60, Patrol Officer Pay, Starting.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Ohio?
It ranks #42 of 46 agencies we have verified in Ohio — 4 pay less, 41 pay more in the state — and #1,476 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $7,987 below, and against other municipal agencies $9,506 below.
What shifts do Lancaster Police Department officers work?
Patrol Officers work "a regular schedule which consists of five (5) eight (8) hour days on and two (2) days off", and "There will be no rotation of shifts in the Department." That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Lancaster 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 Lancaster | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westlake Police Department | Municipal | — | $88,712 | +$29,432 | #259 |
| 2 | University Heights Police Department | Municipal | 29 | $82,259 | +$22,979 | #378 |
| 3 | Powell Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $81,426 | +$22,146 | #401 |
| 4 | Stow Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $80,288 | +$21,008 | #442 |
| 5 | Cincinnati Police Department | Municipal | 971 | $79,359 | +$20,079 | #467 |
| 6 | Kettering Police Department | Municipal | 79 | $79,227 | +$19,947 | #470 |
| 7 | Canfield Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $79,002 | +$19,722 | #475 |
| 8 | Mentor Police Department | Municipal | — | $77,849 | +$18,569 | #514 |
| 9 | West Chester Township Police Department | Municipal | 92 | $77,027 | +$17,747 | #534 |
| 10 | Beavercreek Police Department | Municipal | 53 | $76,918 | +$17,638 | #538 |
| 11 | Grandview Heights Division of Police | Municipal | 21 | $76,708 | +$17,428 | #542 |
| 12 | Shaker Heights Police Department | Municipal | 68 | $76,566 | +$17,286 | #550 |
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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