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Police pay in Illinois
Entry pay in Illinois runs from $52,686 to $94,460 a year. Verified at 36 agencies, each figure taken from that employer's own published document and dated on its page.
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.
The middle Illinois agency starts officers on $78,083, above the national middle of $68,390 — 6th of the 50 states we can rank.
How Illinois compares
Every figure below is a starting salary — what an agency pays an officer in their first year, before overtime. Each one is the middle agency of its group: half pay more, half pay less.
| Agencies compared | Middle IL agency | Middle US agency | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| All agencies | $78,083 | $68,390 | +14% |
| City departments | $80,472 | $71,302 | +13% |
| Sheriff's offices | $72,852 | $65,374 | +11% |
The best-paid agency in Illinois starts officers on 1.8 times what the lowest-paid one does — $94,460 against $52,686. Overall, Illinois ranks 6th of the 50 states we can rank.
By level
Municipal27 agencies
Lowest$62,550
Middle$80,472
Highest$94,460
Across 27 city departments in Illinois.
Sheriff5 agencies
Lowest$64,233
Middle$72,852
Highest$87,297
Across 5 sheriff's offices in Illinois.
State2 agencies
Illinois State Police$90,828
Illinois Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Police$64,344
Only two verified here, so we name them rather than give a middle figure.
Special jurisdiction2 agencies
Amtrak Police Department$70,429
Saint Xavier University Police Department$52,686
Only two verified here, so we name them rather than give a middle figure.
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Every Illinois agency we have verified
Across the state line
What the middle agency starts on in the states Illinois borders.
Also for Illinois: What Illinois agencies say about off-duty work Taken from each agency's own published policy.
Also: Every agency we have verified The statistics Municipal departments Sheriff's offices
Figures checked between 8 August 2026 and 20 August 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 the figure shown. Where an agency publishes both an academy rate and a post-academy rate, the post-academy rate is used. A missing agency has not been checked, not found to pay less.
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