Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,284
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$22,026
24.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,266
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$88,310
Kept after tax
$66,284
Worth in national money
$68,266
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $88,310, ranking 28 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maine. It ranks 84 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $88,310, tax leaves $66,284, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $68,266 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $92,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maine occupies the middle band for detectives and criminal investigators: a median of $88,310, ranking 28 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Maine, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 84 of 484 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 Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for detectives and criminal investigators — median $88,310 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $66,284 retained, $68,266 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $92,920 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 | $63,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $120,430 |
| This salary | $88,310 |
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 Maine | $66,284 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,956 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,753 |
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 | $81,669 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,565 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Maine earn under $88,310 and half over. The published range runs $63,290 at the tenth percentile to $120,430 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $66,284 take-home in Maine comes from $88,310. 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 84 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,266 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 84.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,290 to $120,430; 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.
- Retained pay of $66,284, from $88,310, assumes a single Maine 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 84 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,266, worked from $88,310, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 84 of 484 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 $92,920, 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 — $63,290 at the tenth percentile, $120,430 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $68,266 in national terms.
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; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $66,284.
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 Maine is $92,920. 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 ($63,290 to $120,430) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $68,266 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 $66,284 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.