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Onalaska 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.
Onalaska Police Department starts at $68,786 a year — about $33.07 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $396 above the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $2,479 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN run about 8% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $74,955 would somewhere at average prices — $6,170 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 69 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isOnalaska Police Department reported 31 sworn officers and 2 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 20,165.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.
About Onalaska
Onalaska Police Department has served this La Crosse County city on the Black River since 1946, and is made up of 31 police officers and four civilian staff. The city's ordinances place the department under a chief appointed through the Police and Fire Commission, with officers, assistants and patrolmen appointed as needed, and the chief reporting on the department's activities to the Mayor. The department also runs a Police Reserve with its own executive board of a commander, deputy commander, two reserve sergeants and two sworn sergeants from the department.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 August 2026. City of Onalaska of — open the source document
Opened 4 May 2026; explicitly accepts entry-level candidates; $33.07/hour = $68,785.60
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.
How this level compares
Where Onalaska 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. Onalaska starts at $68,786, so $2,501 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Onalaska Police Department officer make?
Onalaska Police Department starts a new officer on $68,786 a year, about $33.07 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 Onalaska of.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #28 of 74 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 46 pay less, 27 pay more in the state — and #825 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $396 above, and against other municipal agencies $2,479 below.
Compare with another department
Put Onalaska 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 Onalaska | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$13,832 | #339 |
| 2 | Fitchburg Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $78,790 | +$10,005 | #432 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | +$9,880 | #438 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | +$8,776 | #469 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | +$7,592 | #498 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | +$7,342 | #505 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | +$6,739 | #535 |
| 8 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | +$6,316 | #555 |
| 9 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | +$6,302 | #556 |
| 10 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | +$5,910 | #568 |
| 11 | Kenosha Police Department | Municipal | 231 | $74,640 | +$5,854 | #572 |
| 12 | Glendale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $74,040 | +$5,255 | #592 |
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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