Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,859
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$14,811
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,850
Kentucky costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kentucky — 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
$71,670
Kept after tax
$56,859
Worth in national money
$62,850
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $71,670. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 23.58% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 124 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $71,670 you keep $56,859 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $62,850 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $86,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- For detectives and criminal investigators, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $71,670, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 23.58%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Detectives and criminal investigators ranks 124 of 491 occupations in Kentucky by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $56,859 after the full tax stack, from $71,670. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $62,850 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $86,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Detectives and Criminal Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,640 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $71,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $149,280 |
| This salary | $71,670 |
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 Kentucky | $56,859 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,250 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,878 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $68,271 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,593 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 Kentucky earn under $71,670 and half over. The published range runs $51,640 at the tenth percentile to $149,280 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $56,859, from $71,670, 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 124 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $62,850 uses one figure for the whole of Kentucky. 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 124.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,640 to $149,280; 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 Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $56,859 from $71,670. 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 124 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $62,850, worked from $71,670, 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 Kentucky address, on work sitting at 124 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 $86,900 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 $51,640, the highest tenth $149,280, 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 $62,850.
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 Kentucky adds its own income tax on top — which is why $56,859 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 Kentucky is $86,900. 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 ($51,640) and the ninetieth ($149,280) 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?
Kentucky'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 $62,850 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 $56,859 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kentucky 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.