Pay · 33-9021
Private Detectives and Investigators earn $51,220 a year at the midpoint
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The lowest tenth are paid about $36,740, the highest tenth about $97,630 — figures from the 2025 federal wage survey.
National figures for private detectives and investigators, 33-9021, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Private detective earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Place 498 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 37% of the occupations in the survey.
- 496 Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters $51,330
- 497 Locksmiths and Safe Repairers $51,320
- 498 Private Detectives and Investigators $51,220
- 499 Medical Records Specialists $51,140
- 500 Animal Breeders $51,130
Private detective pay rate, hourly to annual
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Resumes for private detectives and investigators
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Wrote reports or case summaries to document investigations.
- Conducted private investigations on a paid basis.
- Searched computer databases, credit reports, public records, tax or legal filings, or other resources to locate persons or to compile information for investigations.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Private detective wages across the states
The 35 states where the most people do this work, of 49 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.96 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | $76,480 | $44,610 | $44,610 — $97,500 | 610 |
| Connecticut | $75,010 | $38,300 | $38,300 — $95,790 | 400 |
| New Hampshire | $65,370 | $40,510 | $40,510 — $124,150 | 280 |
| Washington | $64,080 | $43,060 | $43,060 — $104,220 | 750 |
| California | $61,250 | $42,600 | $42,600 — $103,410 | 4,190 |
| Arizona | $61,030 | $38,240 | $38,240 — $92,160 | 790 |
| Illinois | $60,210 | $38,920 | $38,920 — $97,780 | 1,300 |
| New York | $59,140 | $40,940 | $40,940 — $103,610 | 1,300 |
| Utah | $57,910 | $38,690 | $38,690 — $89,900 | 350 |
| Minnesota | $57,880 | $40,520 | $40,520 — $101,360 | 600 |
| Virginia | $56,160 | $35,530 | $35,530 — $95,000 | 1,280 |
| New Jersey | $54,710 | $39,980 | $39,980 — $103,750 | 410 |
| North Carolina | $52,890 | $36,600 | $36,600 — $98,560 | 1,710 |
| Texas | $51,810 | $35,650 | $35,650 — $99,930 | 3,220 |
| South Carolina | $51,530 | $37,000 | $37,000 — $93,740 | 620 |
| Pennsylvania | $51,200 | $38,380 | $38,380 — $91,470 | 1,220 |
| Florida | $50,640 | $35,990 | $35,990 — $85,830 | 3,660 |
| Massachusetts | $50,240 | $40,250 | $40,250 — $121,090 | 280 |
| Tennessee | $49,360 | $33,930 | $33,930 — $101,030 | 940 |
| Colorado | $48,730 | $41,110 | $41,110 — $86,430 | 540 |
| Michigan | $48,650 | $36,360 | $36,360 — $87,420 | 850 |
| Idaho | $47,910 | $39,520 | $39,520 — $69,710 | 210 |
| Arkansas | $47,750 | $35,990 | $35,990 — $107,930 | 370 |
| Kentucky | $47,650 | $37,340 | $37,340 — $70,150 | 350 |
| Ohio | $47,200 | $37,460 | $37,460 — $84,930 | 1,560 |
| Alabama | $46,810 | $35,990 | $35,990 — $61,420 | 530 |
| Kansas | $45,260 | $35,810 | $35,810 — $76,520 | 280 |
| Georgia | $45,060 | $36,570 | $36,570 — $96,680 | 1,460 |
| Maine | $43,830 | $36,550 | $36,550 — $67,230 | 210 |
| Louisiana | $41,950 | $35,000 | $35,000 — $67,690 | 860 |
| Wisconsin | $41,850 | $37,000 | $37,000 — $76,550 | 410 |
| Indiana | $41,830 | $36,500 | $36,500 — $77,000 | 480 |
| Missouri | $41,600 | $33,660 | $33,660 — $67,720 | 590 |
| Oklahoma | $39,680 | $36,050 | $36,050 — $62,690 | 370 |
| Mississippi | $39,060 | $31,800 | $31,800 — $69,170 | 330 |
No estimate is published for 2 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.
Examples
Resumes made for this kind of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
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Questions people often ask
What is a private detective’s yearly income?
A private detective makes a median of $51,220 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $40,700 and $73,990.
What is a private detective’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $24.62 an hour; the average is $60,150 a year.
What is the starting pay for a private detective?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $40,700 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $36,740.
Which state pays private detectives and investigators the most?
Oregon, with a median of $76,480 a year.
How many people work as private detectives and investigators?
About 35,580 in the United States — number 498 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $220 of what private detectives and investigators earn — $51,220 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $80 less Medical Records Specialists $51,140median a year 10th percentile: $37,000 90th percentile: $81,150
- $210 more Semiconductor Processing Technicians $51,430median a year 10th percentile: $37,690 90th percentile: $82,540
- $220 more Museum Technicians and Conservators $51,440median a year 10th percentile: $33,780 90th percentile: $87,530