Private Detectives and Investigators in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,119
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$8,321
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,358
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$53,440
Kept after tax
$45,119
Worth in national money
$44,358
State rank
18
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $53,440, ranking 18 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 430 occupations Alaska reports figures for, this is number 303.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $53,440 the take-home is $45,119, which is worth about $44,358 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $62,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska occupies the middle band for private detectives and investigators: a median of $53,440, ranking 18 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Alaska's occupational distribution, private detectives and investigators sits at 303 of 430 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for private detectives and investigators on its $53,440 median: $45,119 retained after tax becomes $44,358 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $62,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Private Detectives and Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $105,970 |
| This salary | $53,440 |
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 Alaska | $45,119 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,119 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,072 |
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 | $53,440 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,506 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alaska earn less than $53,440. The published range is $39,620 up to $105,970, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $45,119, worked from $53,440. 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 303 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,358 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 303.
- Reported values are medians; for private detectives and investigators in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,620 to $105,970. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alaska take-home of $45,119, on $53,440 for work ranking 303 of 430 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 303 of 430 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,358, worked from $53,440, 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 Alaska address, on work sitting at 303 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $62,190, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,620, the highest tenth $105,970, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $44,358 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $45,119 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Alaska is $62,190. 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 ($39,620) and the ninetieth ($105,970) 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?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $44,358 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $45,119 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.