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Westerville 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.
Westerville Police Department starts at $72,852 a year — about $35.02 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $6,167 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,712 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Ohio run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $78,526 would somewhere at average prices — $5,674 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 isWesterville Police Department reported 78 sworn officers and 38 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 38,457.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 Westerville says about itself
The Westerville Division of Police (WPD) is dedicated to responding to the needs of citizens, preventing crimes, and continually evolving to maintain the highest standards of service.
What Westerville does
The Westerville Division of Police serves the city of Westerville, Ohio, in Franklin and Delaware counties north-east of Columbus, a community of about 41,000 with an authorized strength of eighty sworn officers and over thirty civilians. It is organised in three bureaus - Community and Professional Services, Patrol, and Investigative Services - each headed by an assistant chief, with patrol divided into three shifts each led by a lieutenant and two sergeants. Records of its first law enforcement official date to 1916.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 21 September 2026. City of Westerville, 2025 Police Officer pay and benefit schedule — "Pay Step 1 $35.02/hr $72,851.92". — open the source document
$72,851.92 is the City's own annual figure for Step 1 and no arithmetic has been applied to it - the schedule prints $35.02 hourly beside it. WESTERVILLE APPOINTS FIRST AND TRAINS AFTER, WHICH IS WHY THERE IS NO RECRUIT RATE TO REJECT, and the City says so twice in its own documents: "Ohio Peace Officer Training Certification preferred but not required prior to appointment. Non-certified candidates will be enrolled in an Ohio Peace Officer training academy as soon as practical after appointment", and "Will I be paid while attending the Academy? Yes, you will be hired as a full-time employee before you start the Police Academy." Step 1 is therefore the appointment rate AND the rate paid through the academy - a single class, not a training tier. The schedule confirms Step 1 is the floor: "Step 1 is the starting rate, except that the City may start new hires at a higher step if they are (a) currently OPOTA-certified and (b) have at least two years of full-time sworn law enforcement experience", which is a lateral placement and not a different entry rate. THREE FIGURES ON THE RECRUITING PAGE ARE CEILINGS OR LATERALS AND ARE RECORDED HERE SO NOBODY TAKES THEM: "Earn up to $114,000 annually with two years of full-time law enforcement experience", "Earn up to $119,000 after three years of service", and a vague "earning a salary of more than $70,000". THE SCHEDULE IS THE 2025 ONE AND TODAY IS SEPTEMBER 2026, WHICH IS A REAL RISK AND IS NAMED: the $114,000 lateral ceiling matches 2025 Step 6 exactly, but "$119,000 after three years" matches NO 2025 step, which suggests a newer schedule exists that the recruiting page has not been relinked to. None could be found. NEXT DOCUMENT: the City of Westerville salary ordinance for 2026, via the Council ordinance search. A PATH CORRECTION: the recruiting content MOVED to police.westerville.org - it was never blocked, which is what two earlier passes recorded.
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 Westerville 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. Westerville starts at $72,852, so $4,712 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Westerville Police Department officer make?
Westerville Police Department starts a new officer on $72,852 a year, about $35.02 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 Westerville, 2025 Police Officer pay and benefit schedule — "Pay Step 1 $35.02/hr $72,851.92"..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Ohio?
It ranks #22 of 53 agencies we have verified in Ohio — 31 pay less, 21 pay more in the state — and #769 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $6,167 above, and against other municipal agencies $4,712 above.
Compare with another department
Put Westerville 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 Westerville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westlake Police Department | Municipal | — | $88,712 | +$15,860 | #291 |
| 2 | University Heights Police Department | Municipal | 29 | $82,259 | +$9,407 | #421 |
| 3 | Powell Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $81,426 | +$8,574 | #444 |
| 4 | Springfield Police Department | Municipal | 123 | $80,764 | +$7,912 | #468 |
| 5 | Stow Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $80,288 | +$7,436 | #486 |
| 6 | Cincinnati Police Department | Municipal | 971 | $79,359 | +$6,508 | #513 |
| 7 | Hilliard Police Department | Municipal | 63 | $79,248 | +$6,396 | #515 |
| 8 | Kettering Police Department | Municipal | 79 | $79,227 | +$6,375 | #517 |
| 9 | Canfield Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $79,002 | +$6,150 | #522 |
| 10 | Mentor Police Department | Municipal | — | $77,849 | +$4,997 | #563 |
| 11 | Dayton Police Department | Municipal | 342 | $77,411 | +$4,559 | #575 |
| 12 | West Chester Township Police Department | Municipal | 92 | $77,027 | +$4,175 | #584 |
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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