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Marquette County Sheriff's Office 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.
Marquette County Sheriff's Office starts at $63,565 a year — about $30.56 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $3,120 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $5 above the median for county agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in rural Wisconsin run about 10% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $70,961 would somewhere at average prices — $7,396 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 63 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on price levels for the non-metropolitan part of this state, because this agency is outside every 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 isMarquette County Sheriff's Office reported 49 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025.No rate is shown: this agency does not police a single population the FBI publishes a figure for. 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 Marquette County says about itself
The Office of the Sheriff serves Marquette County from 67 West Park Street in Montello, and is responsible for the Marquette County Jail together with Huber and electronic monitoring, crash reports, public records requests, the sex offender registry, alarm applications and Marquette County Crime Stoppers, and it publishes a citizen complaint form. The office is responsible for the jail and the 911 dispatch center, and deputies are cross trained in both divisions: the position of Deputy Sheriff is a patrol position within our office, and deputies are expected to perform all general law enforcement duties as well as uphold all state laws and county ordinances.
What Marquette County does
Marquette County Sheriff's Office serves a small central Wisconsin county of about 15,600 people across 464 square miles, from Montello. It runs the county jail and the 911 dispatch center, and deputies are cross trained across both, so a patrol deputy may work either side. The office works from the county courthouse complex on West Park Street, where the sheriff's office and jail sit behind the 1918 courthouse, and it publishes a citizen complaint form, Huber and electronic monitoring rules, and an alarm application.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. Wisconsin Department of Justice WILENET official employment posting — — open the source document
Current 2026 Patrol Deputy recruitment; application deadline 14 August 2026; salary range $30.56-$35.95
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 Marquette County 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. Marquette County starts at $63,565, so $0 above the county middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Marquette County Sheriff's Office officer make?
Marquette County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $63,565 a year, about $30.56 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 Wisconsin Department of Justice WILENET official employment posting —.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #60 of 81 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 21 pay less, 59 pay more in the state — and #1,340 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $3,120 below, and against other county agencies $5 above.
Compare with another department
Put Marquette County Sheriff's Office 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 Marquette | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$19,053 | #414 |
| 2 | Fitchburg Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $78,790 | +$15,226 | #527 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | +$15,101 | #533 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | +$13,996 | #571 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | +$12,813 | #607 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | +$12,563 | #614 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | +$11,960 | #647 |
| 8 | Wisconsin State Patrol | State | 445 | $75,462 | +$11,898 | #650 |
| 9 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | +$11,537 | #672 |
| 10 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | +$11,523 | #673 |
| 11 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | +$11,131 | #688 |
| 12 | Kenosha Police Department | Municipal | 231 | $74,640 | +$11,075 | #692 |
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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