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Milwaukee 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.
Milwaukee Police Department starts at $73,188 a year — about $35.19 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,503 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $5,048 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wisconsin run about 6% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $77,781 would somewhere at average prices — $4,593 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 79 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 isMilwaukee Police Department reported 1,553 sworn officers and 320 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.8 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 559,717.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 Milwaukee says about itself
Our vision: a Milwaukee where all can live safely and without fear, protected by a police department with the highest ethical and professional standards. To be a department where every member works with our community to help build sustainable healthy neighbourhoods, free of crime and maintained by positive relationships: by using effective community engagement, we will impact crime, help build sustainable neighbourhoods and foster positive community relations. The department is divided into seven police districts; District One is comprised of a 5.1 square mile area of Milwaukee's downtown and eastside with a district population in excess of 54,000 residents, District Two a 7.2 square mile area on the near south side with a population in excess of 79,000, and District Three an 11.8 square mile area on the west side with a population in excess of 76,000.
What Milwaukee does
Milwaukee Police Department is the municipal force for Wisconsin's largest city, formed in 1855 and working from the Police Administration Building on West State Street. It is divided into seven districts plus a Specialized Patrol Division, with an authorized strength of about 1,725 sworn officers and roughly 2,300 employees in total, and it runs two police boats on Lake Michigan and the rivers. Officers are hired, and promotions examined, through the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission under Wis. Stat. 62.50, and supervisory ranks are filled by competitive internal examination offered about every two years.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 25 August 2026. Officer salary on graduation from the academy, Fire and Police Commission recruitment page. — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 January 2026.
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 Milwaukee 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. Milwaukee starts at $73,188, so $5,048 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Milwaukee Police Department officer make?
Milwaukee Police Department starts a new officer on $73,188 a year, about $35.19 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 Officer salary on graduation from the academy, Fire and Police Commission recruitment page..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #14 of 81 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 67 pay less, 13 pay more in the state — and #748 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,503 above, and against other municipal agencies $5,048 above.
Compare with another department
Put Milwaukee 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 Milwaukee | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$9,430 | #414 |
| 2 | Fitchburg Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $78,790 | +$5,602 | #527 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | +$5,478 | #533 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | +$4,373 | #571 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | +$3,190 | #607 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | +$2,940 | #614 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | +$2,337 | #647 |
| 8 | Wisconsin State Patrol | State | 445 | $75,462 | +$2,274 | #650 |
| 9 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | +$1,914 | #672 |
| 10 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | +$1,900 | #673 |
| 11 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | +$1,507 | #688 |
| 12 | Kenosha Police Department | Municipal | 231 | $74,640 | +$1,452 | #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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