Private Detectives and Investigators in Wyoming
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,818
after federal, FICA and Wyoming tax
Tax takes
$8,492
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,434
Wyoming costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wyoming — 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
$54,310
Kept after tax
$45,818
Worth in national money
$50,434
State rank
17
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wyoming pays this job around $54,310 at the midpoint, 17 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 433 occupations Wyoming reports figures for, this is number 245.
- Here is where Wyoming does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $54,310 you keep $45,818, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $50,434 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $58,800, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For private detectives and investigators the Wyoming median is $54,310, ranking 17 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Wyoming's occupational distribution, private detectives and investigators sits at 245 of 433 — 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wyoming income tax, retained pay for private detectives and investigators on $54,310 is $45,818. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $50,434 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 $58,800 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 | $40,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,120 |
| This salary | $54,310 |
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 Wyoming | $45,818 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,818 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,284 |
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 | $54,310 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,971 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 Wyoming earn under $54,310 and half over. The published range runs $40,550 at the tenth percentile to $80,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $45,818 take-home in Wyoming comes from $54,310. 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 245 of 433.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wyoming, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,434, the adjusted value of that $54,310 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 245 of 433 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for private detectives and investigators in Wyoming, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,550 to $80,120; 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.
- Retained pay of $45,818, from $54,310, assumes a single Wyoming 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 245 of 433 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wyoming, so $50,434 — the adjusted value of that $54,310 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 245 of 433 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 $58,800 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $40,550 at the bottom tenth to $80,120 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 Wyoming sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $50,434 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $45,818 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Wyoming is $58,800. 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 ($40,550) and the ninetieth ($80,120) 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?
Wyoming'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 $50,434 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Wyoming levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $45,818 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.