Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,863
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$34,187
28.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,524
Delaware costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Delaware — 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
$122,050
Kept after tax
$87,863
Worth in national money
$88,524
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Delaware pays this job a middle wage of $122,050, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 30.13% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Delaware. It ranks 46 out of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $122,050, tax leaves $87,863, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $88,524 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $117,730.
- Delaware's median for detectives and criminal investigators is $122,050, about 30.13% above the national figure and 4 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Delaware, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 46 of 445 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 Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for detectives and criminal investigators — median $122,050 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $87,863 retained, $88,524 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $117,730 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 | $65,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $122,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,510 |
| This salary | $122,050 |
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 Delaware | $87,863 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $94,687 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,916 |
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 | $112,342 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,322 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Delaware earn less than $122,050. The published range is $65,830 up to $164,510, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Delaware the take-home figure of $87,863, from $122,050, 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 46 of 445 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $88,524 uses one figure for the whole of Delaware. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 445 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 46.
- Reported values are medians; for detectives and criminal investigators in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,830 to $164,510. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $87,863 from $122,050. 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 46 of 445 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $88,524, worked from $122,050, 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 Delaware address, on work sitting at 46 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $117,730, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $65,830, the highest tenth $164,510, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $88,524.
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 Delaware adds its own income tax on top — which is why $87,863 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 Delaware is $117,730. 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 ($65,830) and the ninetieth ($164,510) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Delaware's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $88,524 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $87,863 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Delaware 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.