Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Nevada

A protective helmet, radio and safety vest at an emergency response station.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$75,290

after federal, FICA and Nevada tax

Tax takes

$19,180

20.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$77,634

Nevada costs less than average

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

$94,470

Kept after tax

$75,290

Worth in national money

$77,634

State rank

19

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Nevada sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $94,470, ranking 19 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Within Nevada this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 87 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $94,470 you keep $75,290 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $77,634 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $101,950, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Nevada occupies the middle band for detectives and criminal investigators: a median of $94,470, ranking 19 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.
  • Ranked against every occupation Nevada publishes a median for, detectives and criminal investigators sits 87 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 in Nevada is $75,290 after the full tax stack, from $94,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $77,634 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $101,950 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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$60,920
Half earn under$94,470
Top tenth earn over$152,480
This salary$94,470

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

Compare with
$0take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Nevada$75,290
Take-home in Texas$75,290
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$156

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

Moving to
$0$94,685
$94,685in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$94,470
Raise you would need+$215
Prices in Texas97 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 Nevada earn under $94,470 and half over. The published range runs $60,920 at the tenth percentile to $152,480 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • In Nevada the take-home figure of $75,290, from $94,470, 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 87 of 485 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $77,634, the adjusted value of that $94,470 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nevada. 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 87 of 485 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Nevada, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,920 to $152,480; 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 Nevada is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,290 from $94,470. 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 87 of 485 locally.
  • This $77,634 adjusted figure, worked from $94,470, 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 87 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 87 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 $101,950 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 $60,920 and the top tenth $152,480 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nevada sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $77,634 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

Is most of this wage taxed away?

Most of it arrives. $75,290 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.

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 Nevada is $101,950. 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 ($60,920) and the ninetieth ($152,480) 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?

Nevada'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 $77,634 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.

Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?

Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $75,290 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.

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.