Private Detectives and Investigators in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,309
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$8,951
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,360
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$45,260
Kept after tax
$36,309
Worth in national money
$40,360
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kansas. The middle earner gets $45,260. That is 37 of 49 states, and about 11.64% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 345 among 488 occupations Kansas publishes pay for.
- Here is where Kansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $45,260 you keep $36,309, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $40,360 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $50,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For private detectives and investigators, Kansas sits in the lower band at $45,260, ranking 37 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 11.64%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 345 of 488 in Kansas places private detectives and investigators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Kansas income tax, retained pay for private detectives and investigators on $45,260 is $36,309. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $40,360 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $50,220 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Private Detectives and Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,520 |
| This salary | $45,260 |
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 Kansas | $36,309 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,546 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$693 |
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 | $42,476 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$838 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 private detectives and investigators in Kansas earn under $45,260 and half over. The published range runs $35,810 at the tenth percentile to $76,520 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Kansas the take-home figure of $36,309, from $45,260, 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 345 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $40,360, the adjusted value of that $45,260 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kansas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 345 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for private detectives and investigators in Kansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,810 to $76,520; 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 Kansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,309 from $45,260. 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 345 of 488 locally.
- This $40,360 adjusted figure, worked from $45,260, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 345 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 345 of 488 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 $50,220 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 $35,810 and the top tenth $76,520 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $40,360.
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 Kansas's own levy, $36,309 remains.
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 Kansas is $50,220. 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 ($35,810) and the ninetieth ($76,520) 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?
Kansas'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 $40,360 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 $36,309 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.