Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$81,771
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$32,169
28.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,289
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$113,940
Kept after tax
$81,771
Worth in national money
$75,289
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Hawaii is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $113,940, which ranks 8 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 21.48% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Hawaii. It ranks 50 out of 437 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Hawaii is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $113,940 the take-home is $81,771; in national-average money that behaves like $75,289. The average comes to $124,610, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Hawaii ranks 8 of 51 states publishing a median for detectives and criminal investigators, at $113,940 — about 21.48% 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 Hawaii, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 50 of 437 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.
- Take-home for detectives and criminal investigators in Hawaii, on $113,940, is $81,771; deflated by the state's price level, $75,289. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $124,610 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $92,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $113,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $165,030 |
| This salary | $113,940 |
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 Hawaii | $81,771 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $88,987 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,285 |
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 | $103,682 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$22,494 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Hawaii earn less than $113,940. The published range is $92,520 up to $165,030, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Hawaii's $81,771, worked from $113,940. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 50 of 437.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,289 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 50.
- Reported values are medians; for detectives and criminal investigators in Hawaii the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $92,520 to $165,030. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Hawaii take-home of $81,771, on $113,940 for work ranking 50 of 437 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 50 of 437 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,289, worked from $113,940, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 50 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $124,610, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $92,520 at the tenth percentile, $165,030 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $75,289 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Hawaii's own levy, $81,771 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Hawaii is $124,610. 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 ($92,520 to $165,030) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $75,289 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 $81,771 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.