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Wausau 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.
Wausau Police Department starts at $67,226 a year — about $32.32 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $1,164 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $4,039 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Wausau, WI run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $72,558 would somewhere at average prices — $5,332 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 71 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 isWausau Police Department reported 82 sworn officers and 9 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 40,318.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 Wausau
Wausau Police partners with the community to enhance quality of life, uses community-oriented policing and handles more than 40,000 calls for service a year.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 13 August 2026. $32.32/hour / $67,225.60 annual base minimum. Current official City Police Officer recruitment opened June 25, 2026 publishes $32. — open the source document
Opening date June 25, 2026. $32.32/hour / $67,225.60 annual base minimum. Current official City Police Officer recruitment opened June 25, 2026 publishes $32.32-$42.00 hourly / $67,225.60-$87,360 annually and explicitly accepts candidates who have successfully completed the Wisconsin 720 Law Enforcement
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 Wausau 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. Wausau starts at $67,226, so $4,061 below the municipal middle.
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How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Wausau Police Department officer make?
Wausau Police Department starts a new officer on $67,226 a year, about $32.32 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 $32.32/hour / $67,225.60 annual base minimum. Current official City Police Officer recruitment opened June 25, 2026 publishes $32..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Wisconsin?
It ranks #39 of 74 agencies we have verified in Wisconsin — 35 pay less, 38 pay more in the state — and #909 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $1,164 below, and against other municipal agencies $4,039 below.
Compare with another department
Put Wausau 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 Wausau | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menomonee Falls Police Department | Municipal | 59 | $82,618 | +$15,392 | #339 |
| 2 | Fitchburg Police Department | Municipal | 50 | $78,790 | +$11,565 | #432 |
| 3 | Brookfield Police Department | Municipal | 80 | $78,666 | +$11,440 | #438 |
| 4 | Cedarburg Police Department | Municipal | 24 | $77,561 | +$10,336 | #469 |
| 5 | Stoughton Police Department | Municipal | 23 | $76,378 | +$9,152 | #498 |
| 6 | Waukesha County Sheriff's Office | County | 158 | $76,128 | +$8,902 | #505 |
| 7 | River Falls Police Department | Municipal | 27 | $75,525 | +$8,299 | #535 |
| 8 | Grafton Police Department | Municipal | 22 | $75,102 | +$7,876 | #555 |
| 9 | Dodge County Sheriff's Office | County | 64 | $75,088 | +$7,862 | #556 |
| 10 | St. Croix County Sheriff's Office | County | 98 | $74,695 | +$7,470 | #568 |
| 11 | Kenosha Police Department | Municipal | 231 | $74,640 | +$7,414 | #572 |
| 12 | Glendale Police Department | Municipal | 39 | $74,040 | +$6,815 | #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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