Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States and Industries
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Criminal Investigators and Special Agents
Criminal Investigators and Special Agents investigate alleged or suspected criminal violations of Federal, state, or local laws to determine if evidence is sufficient to recommend prosecution.
Table of contents
- Average salary
- Starting salary
- Salary rank
- Salary range
- Highest paying states
- Highest paying industries
Average salary
Starting salary
Entry-level Criminal Investigators and Special Agents with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $46,020 to $59,620 per year or $22 to $29 per hour. Similar to any other job, their salary will increase as they gain experience.
Salary rank
We wanted to make it easy for our readers to compare the salary of Criminal Investigators and Special Agents to all the other careers out there. So we created Salary Rank. We compared the salary of all careers then we gave them a rank of A, B, C, or D depending on where their average salary sit in comparison to other careers.
Salary range
| Level | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Highest (Top 10%) | $70 | $146,000 |
| Senior (Top 25%) | $54 | $111,900 |
| Middle (Mid 50%) | $42 | $86,940 |
| Junior (Bottom 25%) | $29 | $59,620 |
| No experience (Bottom 10%) | $22 | $46,020 |
Highest paying states
| State | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| AK | $61 | $126,340 |
| MD | $55 | $113,500 |
| HI | $54 | $113,150 |
| CA | $54 | $111,480 |
| NJ | $51 | $106,120 |
| WA | $50 | $104,960 |
| VA | $50 | $104,030 |
| MA | $49 | $102,630 |
| NY | $47 | $97,000 |
| OR | $46 | $96,660 |
Another simple way to increase your salary as a Criminal Investigator and Special Agent is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like AK doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at AK might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.
According to BLS, the highest paid Criminal Investigators are in the states of AK, MD, HI, CA and NJ.
Highest paying industries
| Salary by industry | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Executive Branch | $111880 | $53.79 |
| Postal Service (Federal Government) | $104300 | $50.15 |
| Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals | $81770 | $39.31 |
| Local Government | $77120 | $37.08 |
| Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $72410 | $34.81 |
| State Government | $70070 | $33.69 |
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