City of Chicago / Chicago Police Department / General Counsel-42
Job-title file
Provide legal advice, draft and review documents, and represent the agency in legal matters.
1 employees hold this title in Chicago Police Department. Median total compensation for the role is $199,284, above the department median of $115,158.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, the median wage for Lawyers — about 28,320 people — is $165,660. Chicago Police Department pays a median base salary of $199,284 for this role, 20% above that figure — about the 63rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Lawyers across every employer in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Chicago Police Department’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Lawyers — about 754,500 people — is $159,670. Chicago Police Department’s median base salary is 25% above that national figure, about the 66th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Chicago Police Department is $199,284, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
General Counsel-42 is held in 2 City of Chicago departments. In Chicago Police Department, the median of $199,284 ranks #1 of 2.
Median total compensation for the General Counsel-42 role in other City of Chicagodepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 14 jurisdictions. See General Counsel across all of City of Chicago →
Median total compensation for comparable General Counsel roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
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General Counsel-42/Chicago Police Department
Source-specific fields
Scott Spears is a General Counsel-42 at Chicago Police Department. They work full-time. 2026 total compensation came to $199,284.