Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,153
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$16,147
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,785
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$79,300
Kept after tax
$63,153
Worth in national money
$68,785
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Ohio. The middle earner gets $79,300. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 15.45% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 494 occupations Ohio reports, this job comes in at 113 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $79,300 you keep $63,153 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,785 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $90,600, since top earners drag the number up.
- For detectives and criminal investigators, Ohio sits in the lower band at $79,300, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 15.45%. 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 113 of 494 occupations by median in Ohio, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Ohio is $63,153 after the full tax stack, from $79,300. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,785 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $90,600 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $56,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $151,200 |
| This salary | $79,300 |
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 Ohio | $63,153 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,618 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,289 |
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 | $77,218 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,162 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 Ohio earn under $79,300 and half over. The published range runs $56,840 at the tenth percentile to $151,200 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $63,153, worked from $79,300. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 113 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,785 uses one figure for the whole of Ohio. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 113.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Ohio, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,840 to $151,200; 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.
- The Ohio take-home of $63,153, on $79,300 for work ranking 113 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 113 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,785, worked from $79,300, 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 Ohio address, on work sitting at 113 of 494 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 $90,600 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $56,840 at the bottom tenth to $151,200 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Ohio sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $68,785 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Ohio adds its own income tax on top — which is why $63,153 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 Ohio is $90,600. 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 ($56,840) and the ninetieth ($151,200) 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?
Ohio'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 $68,785 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 $63,153 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.