First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,817
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$17,723
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,228
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$81,540
Kept after tax
$63,817
Worth in national money
$69,228
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays this job a middle wage of $81,540, 42 of 51 states and about 23.1% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 98 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $81,540 you keep $63,817 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $69,228 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $90,810, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana's $81,540 median for first-line supervisors of police and detectives places it 42 of 51 states, about 23.1% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Ranked against every occupation Indiana publishes a median for, first-line supervisors of police and detectives sits 98 of 493 — 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 Indiana is $63,817 after the full tax stack, from $81,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $69,228 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $90,810 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,700 |
| This salary | $81,540 |
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 Indiana | $63,817 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,193 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,111 |
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 | $78,163 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,534 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $81,540 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,120 and the ninetieth is $127,700 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $63,817 take-home in Indiana comes from $81,540. 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 98 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $69,228, the adjusted value of that $81,540 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 98 of 493 in the state.
- The Indiana median of $81,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,120 to $127,700. 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 $63,817, from $81,540, assumes a single Indiana 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 98 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $69,228 — the adjusted value of that $81,540 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 98 of 493 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 $90,810 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 $60,120 and the top tenth $127,700 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $69,228 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Indiana's own levy, $63,817 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 Indiana is $90,810. 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 ($60,120) and the ninetieth ($127,700) 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?
Indiana'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 $69,228 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 $63,817 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.