First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,373
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$24,477
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$79,495
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$104,850
Kept after tax
$80,373
Worth in national money
$79,495
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Arizona is 19 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $104,850. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, this job comes in at 44 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $104,850 the take-home is $80,373, which is worth about $79,495 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $113,270, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arizona ranks 19 of 51 for first-line supervisors of police and detectives at $104,850. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- First-line supervisors of police and detectives ranks 44 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, 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.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for first-line supervisors of police and detectives on its $104,850 median: $80,373 retained after tax becomes $79,495 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $113,270 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $158,610 |
| This salary | $104,850 |
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 Arizona | $80,373 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,498 |
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 | $101,696 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,595 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $104,850 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $81,350 and the ninetieth is $158,610 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $80,373 take-home in Arizona comes from $104,850. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 44 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $79,495 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 44.
- The Arizona median of $104,850 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $81,350 to $158,610. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $80,373, from $104,850, assumes a single Arizona filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 44 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $79,495, worked from $104,850, 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 Arizona address, on work sitting at 44 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $113,270, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $81,350 at the bottom tenth to $158,610 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $79,495 of national purchasing power.
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 Arizona's own levy, $80,373 remains.
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 Arizona is $113,270. 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 ($81,350) and the ninetieth ($158,610) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $79,495 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $80,373 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.