Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,670
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$23,670
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,810
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$102,340
Kept after tax
$78,670
Worth in national money
$77,810
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $102,340, which ranks 14 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 9.12% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Arizona. It ranks 54 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $102,340, tax leaves $78,670, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $77,810 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $100,000.
- Arizona ranks 14 of 51 states publishing a median for detectives and criminal investigators, at $102,340 — about 9.12% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Arizona, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 54 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for detectives and criminal investigators — median $102,340 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $78,670 retained, $77,810 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $100,000 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Detectives and Criminal Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $142,380 |
| This salary | $102,340 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $78,670 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,826 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,366 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $99,275 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,411 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arizona earn less than $102,340. The published range is $60,590 up to $142,380, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $78,670 take-home in Arizona comes from $102,340. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 54 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $77,810, the adjusted value of that $102,340 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 54 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for detectives and criminal investigators in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $60,590 to $142,380. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $78,670, from $102,340, assumes a single Arizona filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 54 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $77,810 — the adjusted value of that $102,340 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 54 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $60,590, the highest tenth $142,380, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Arizona run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $77,810 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $78,670 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($60,590) and the ninetieth ($142,380) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $77,810 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $78,670 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.