Private Detectives and Investigators in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,418
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$11,292
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,752
Delaware costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Delaware — 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
$55,710
Kept after tax
$44,418
Worth in national money
$44,752
State rank
14
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Delaware's middle earner gets $55,710, putting the state 14 of 49 — about 8.77% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 445 occupations Delaware reports figures for, this is number 260.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $55,710, tax leaves $44,418, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $44,752 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $59,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For private detectives and investigators, Delaware sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $55,710, ranking 14 of 49 and running about 8.77% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Delaware's occupational distribution, private detectives and investigators sits at 260 of 445 — 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.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for private detectives and investigators — median $55,710 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $44,418 retained, $44,752 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $59,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Private Detectives and Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,700 |
| This salary | $55,710 |
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 Delaware | $44,418 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,943 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,555 |
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 | $52,567 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,300 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Delaware earn less than $55,710. The published range is $40,400 up to $80,700, 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 Delaware's $44,418, worked from $55,710. 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 260 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,752, the adjusted value of that $55,710 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 260 of 445 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for private detectives and investigators in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,400 to $80,700. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Delaware take-home of $44,418, on $55,710 for work ranking 260 of 445 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 260 of 445 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $44,752 — the adjusted value of that $55,710 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 260 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $59,230, 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 $40,400 at the bottom tenth to $80,700 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Delaware sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $44,752 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Delaware then takes its own share, leaving $44,418.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Delaware is $59,230. 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 ($40,400) and the ninetieth ($80,700) 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?
Delaware'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 $44,752 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 $44,418 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Delaware 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.
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.