Private Detectives and Investigators in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,759
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,071
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,828
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$43,830
Kept after tax
$35,759
Worth in national money
$36,828
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Maine. The middle earner gets $43,830. That is 41 of 49 states, and about 14.43% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, this job lands at 413. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $43,830, tax leaves $35,759, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $36,828 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $48,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- For private detectives and investigators, Maine sits in the lower band at $43,830, ranking 41 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 14.43%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 413 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for private detectives and investigators — median $43,830 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $35,759 retained, $36,828 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $48,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $36,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,230 |
| This salary | $43,830 |
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 Maine | $35,759 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,397 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,657 |
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 | $41,791 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,003 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Maine earn under $43,830 and half over. The published range runs $36,550 at the tenth percentile to $67,230 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $35,759, from $43,830, 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 413 of 484 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,828, the adjusted value of that $43,830 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 413 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for private detectives and investigators in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,550 to $67,230; 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 Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,759 from $43,830. 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 413 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $36,828 — the adjusted value of that $43,830 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 413 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $48,590, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,550 and the top tenth $67,230, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $36,828.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,759 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Maine is $48,590. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,550 to $67,230) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $36,828 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 $35,759 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.