Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,102
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$26,378
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,024
Colorado costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Colorado — 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
$105,480
Kept after tax
$79,102
Worth in national money
$78,024
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $105,480, which ranks 13 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 12.46% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Colorado. It ranks 73 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $105,480, tax leaves $79,102, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $78,024 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $109,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado ranks 13 of 51 states publishing a median for detectives and criminal investigators, at $105,480 — about 12.46% 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 Colorado, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 73 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 Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for detectives and criminal investigators — median $105,480 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $79,102 retained, $78,024 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $109,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $73,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $105,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,550 |
| This salary | $105,480 |
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 Colorado | $79,102 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,035 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,425 |
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 | $99,890 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,256 |
| 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 Colorado earn less than $105,480. The published range is $73,010 up to $161,550, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $79,102 take-home in Colorado comes from $105,480. 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 73 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $78,024 uses one figure for the whole of Colorado. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 73.
- Reported values are medians; for detectives and criminal investigators in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $73,010 to $161,550. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $79,102, from $105,480, assumes a single Colorado 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 73 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $78,024, worked from $105,480, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Colorado address, on work sitting at 73 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $109,010 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $73,010, the highest tenth $161,550, 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 Colorado run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $78,024 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Colorado then takes its own share, leaving $79,102.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Colorado is $109,010. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($73,010) and the ninetieth ($161,550) 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?
Colorado's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $78,024 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 $79,102 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Colorado 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.