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Police pay in Wisconsin
Entry pay in Wisconsin runs from $50,256 to $82,618 a year. Verified at 81 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 Wisconsin agency starts officers on $67,454, above the national middle of $66,706 — 19th of the 50 states we can rank.
How Wisconsin 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 WI agency | Middle US agency | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| All agencies | $67,454 | $66,706 | +1% |
| City departments | $67,688 | $68,140 | −1% |
| Sheriff's offices | $66,560 | $63,565 | +5% |
The best-paid agency in Wisconsin starts officers on 1.6 times what the lowest-paid one does — $82,618 against $50,256. Overall, Wisconsin ranks 19th of the 50 states we can rank.
By level
Municipal44 agencies
Lowest$50,256
Middle$67,688
Highest$82,618
Across 44 city departments in Wisconsin.
Sheriff35 agencies
Lowest$54,163
Middle$66,560
Highest$76,128
Across 35 sheriff's offices in Wisconsin.
State2 agencies
Wisconsin State Patrol$75,462
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Warden Service$63,378
Only two verified here, so we name them rather than give a middle figure.
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Every Wisconsin agency we have verified
Across the state line
What the middle agency starts on in the states Wisconsin borders.
Also for Wisconsin: What Wisconsin 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 21 September 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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