Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,482
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$23,098
23.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,392
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$97,580
Kept after tax
$74,482
Worth in national money
$76,392
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Pennsylvania pays this job a middle wage of $97,580, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 4.04% above the national middle.
- Within Pennsylvania this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 71 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $97,580, tax leaves $74,482, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $76,392 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $101,760, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania's median for detectives and criminal investigators is $97,580, about 4.04% above the national figure and 17 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 Pennsylvania publishes a median for, detectives and criminal investigators sits 71 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for detectives and criminal investigators — median $97,580 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $74,482 retained, $76,392 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $101,760 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 | $63,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,360 |
| This salary | $97,580 |
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 Pennsylvania | $74,482 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,478 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,338 |
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 | $93,322 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,611 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $97,580 and half over. The published range runs $63,770 at the tenth percentile to $154,360 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 Pennsylvania's $74,482, worked from $97,580. 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 71 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $76,392, the adjusted value of that $97,580 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 71 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,770 to $154,360; 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 Pennsylvania take-home of $74,482, on $97,580 for work ranking 71 of 492 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 71 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $76,392 — the adjusted value of that $97,580 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 71 of 492 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 $101,760 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 $63,770 and the top tenth $154,360 — 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 $76,392.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Pennsylvania's own levy, $74,482 remains.
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 Pennsylvania is $101,760. 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 ($63,770) and the ninetieth ($154,360) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $76,392 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 $74,482 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.