Detectives and Criminal Investigators in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,063
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$14,027
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,165
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$77,090
Kept after tax
$63,063
Worth in national money
$68,165
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $77,090. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 17.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 109 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $77,090 the take-home is $63,063; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $68,165 would nationally. The average comes to $87,790, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For detectives and criminal investigators, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $77,090, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 17.81%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 109 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for detectives and criminal investigators in Tennessee, on $77,090, is $63,063 — equivalent to $68,165 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $87,790 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $49,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $149,280 |
| This salary | $77,090 |
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 Tennessee | $63,063 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,063 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,269 |
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 | $77,090 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,515 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Tennessee earn under $77,090 and half over. The published range runs $49,660 at the tenth percentile to $149,280 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $63,063, from $77,090, 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 109 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,165, the adjusted value of that $77,090 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 109 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,660 to $149,280; 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 Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,063 from $77,090. 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 109 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $68,165 — the adjusted value of that $77,090 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 109 of 491 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 $87,790 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,660, the highest tenth $149,280, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $68,165.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $63,063 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?
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 Tennessee is $87,790. 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 ($49,660) and the ninetieth ($149,280) 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?
Tennessee'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 $68,165 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?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $63,063 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.