Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,343
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$23,897
25.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,805
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$95,240
Kept after tax
$71,343
Worth in national money
$68,805
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Connecticut pays this job around $95,240 at the midpoint, 18 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Connecticut. It ranks 114 out of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $95,240, tax leaves $71,343 — and because Connecticut is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $68,805 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $101,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- For detectives and criminal investigators the Connecticut median is $95,240, ranking 18 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Connecticut, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 114 of 482 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.
- After tax, $71,343 remains from the Connecticut median of $95,240 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $68,805 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $101,890 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 | $78,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $95,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,540 |
| This salary | $95,240 |
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 Connecticut | $71,343 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $75,831 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,231 |
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 | $88,860 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,751 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of detectives and criminal investigators in Connecticut earn under $95,240 and half over. The published range runs $78,990 at the tenth percentile to $130,540 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Connecticut the take-home figure of $71,343, from $95,240, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 114 of 482 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Connecticut, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,805, the adjusted value of that $95,240 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 114 of 482 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Connecticut, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $78,990 to $130,540; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Connecticut is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $71,343 from $95,240. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 114 of 482 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Connecticut, so $68,805 — the adjusted value of that $95,240 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 114 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $101,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $78,990 at the bottom tenth to $130,540 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $68,805 of national purchasing power.
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 Connecticut adds its own income tax on top — which is why $71,343 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Connecticut is $101,890. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($78,990 to $130,540) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $68,805 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 $71,343 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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.