Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,294
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$18,136
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,559
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$80,430
Kept after tax
$62,294
Worth in national money
$70,559
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Oklahoma pays this job around $80,430 at the midpoint, 32 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Oklahoma this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 92 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $80,430 you keep $62,294 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $70,559 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $86,620, since top earners drag the number up.
- For detectives and criminal investigators the Oklahoma median is $80,430, ranking 32 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Oklahoma publishes a median for, detectives and criminal investigators sits 92 of 492 — 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 Oklahoma is $62,294 after the full tax stack, from $80,430. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,559 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $86,620 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 | $51,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $136,120 |
| This salary | $80,430 |
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 Oklahoma | $62,294 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,413 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,245 |
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 | $75,997 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,482 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
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 Oklahoma earn under $80,430 and half over. The published range runs $51,420 at the tenth percentile to $136,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $62,294, from $80,430, 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 92 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Oklahoma, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $70,559, the adjusted value of that $80,430 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 92 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Oklahoma, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,420 to $136,120; 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 Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $62,294 from $80,430. 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 92 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Oklahoma, so $70,559 — the adjusted value of that $80,430 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 92 of 492 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 $86,620, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $51,420 and the top tenth $136,120 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $70,559.
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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $62,294 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 Oklahoma is $86,620. 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 ($51,420) and the ninetieth ($136,120) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $70,559 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 $62,294 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.