Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$81,133
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$29,017
26.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,958
Massachusetts costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Massachusetts — 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
$110,150
Kept after tax
$81,133
Worth in national money
$74,958
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays this job a middle wage of $110,150, ranking 10 of 51 states and sitting about 17.44% above the national middle.
- Within Massachusetts this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 75 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $110,150 the take-home is $81,133. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $74,958 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $118,130, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Massachusetts's median for detectives and criminal investigators is $110,150, about 17.44% above the national figure and 10 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Massachusetts publishes a median for, detectives and criminal investigators sits 75 of 485 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $81,133 for detectives and criminal investigators, from $110,150. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $74,958. ⚠️ 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 $118,130 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 | $76,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $110,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $179,030 |
| This salary | $110,150 |
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 Massachusetts | $81,133 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $86,321 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,872 |
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 | $102,776 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$19,161 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $110,150 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $76,150 and the ninetieth is $179,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $81,133 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $110,150. 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 75 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $74,958, the adjusted value of that $110,150 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 75 of 485 in the state.
- The Massachusetts median of $110,150 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $76,150 to $179,030. 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 $81,133, from $110,150, assumes a single Massachusetts 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 75 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $74,958 — the adjusted value of that $110,150 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 75 of 485 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 $118,130 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $76,150 and the top tenth $179,030 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Massachusetts run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $74,958 — 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 Massachusetts adds its own income tax on top — which is why $81,133 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 Massachusetts is $118,130. 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 ($76,150) and the ninetieth ($179,030) 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?
Massachusetts's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $74,958 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 $81,133 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Massachusetts 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.