Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$92,059
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$34,671
27.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,549
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — 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
$126,730
Kept after tax
$92,059
Worth in national money
$88,549
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $126,730, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 35.12% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maryland. It ranks 43 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $126,730 the take-home is $92,059. But Maryland costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $88,549 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $130,040, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For detectives and criminal investigators, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $126,730, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 35.12% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Maryland, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 43 of 489 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Maryland income tax is $92,059 for detectives and criminal investigators, from $126,730. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $88,549. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $130,040 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Detectives and Criminal Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $188,700 |
| This salary | $126,730 |
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 Maryland | $92,059 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,886 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,183 |
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 | $118,308 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,969 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $126,730 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $71,200 and the ninetieth is $188,700 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $92,059 take-home in Maryland comes from $126,730. 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 43 of 489.
- Two cautions on $88,549, the adjusted value of that $126,730 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maryland. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 43 of 489 locally.
- The Maryland median of $126,730 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $71,200 to $188,700. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $92,059, from $126,730, assumes a single Maryland 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 43 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- This $88,549 adjusted figure, worked from $126,730, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 43 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 43 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $71,200, the highest tenth $188,700, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Maryland run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $88,549 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Maryland adds its own income tax on top — which is why $92,059 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($71,200) and the ninetieth ($188,700) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $88,549 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 $92,059 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland 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.