Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States and Industries
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Private Detectives and Investigators
Private Detectives and Investigators gather, analyze, compile, and report information regarding individuals or organizations to clients, or detect occurrences of unlawful acts or infractions of rules in private establishment.
Table of contents
- Average salary
- Starting salary
- Salary rank
- Salary range
- Highest paying states
- Highest paying industries
Average salary
Starting salary
Entry-level Private Detectives and Investigators with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $31,440 to $38,400 per year or $15 to $18 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 Private Detectives and Investigators 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%) | $47 | $96,950 |
| Senior (Top 25%) | $35 | $73,190 |
| Middle (Mid 50%) | $26 | $53,320 |
| Junior (Bottom 25%) | $18 | $38,400 |
| No experience (Bottom 10%) | $15 | $31,440 |
Highest paying states
| State | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| AR | $37 | $77,980 |
| AK | $35 | $72,150 |
| CA | $34 | $70,350 |
| DE | $33 | $68,620 |
| TX | $32 | $67,420 |
| AL | $32 | $66,870 |
| WA | $32 | $66,220 |
| UT | $32 | $66,040 |
| IL | $32 | $65,670 |
| OR | $31 | $65,140 |
Another simple way to increase your salary as a Private Detective and Investigator is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like AR doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at AR might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.
According to BLS, the highest paid Private Detectives are in the states of AR, AK, CA, DE and TX.
Highest paying industries
| Salary by industry | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution | $92900 | $44.66 |
| Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities | $80240 | $38.58 |
| Insurance Carriers | $76440 | $36.75 |
| Building Material and Supplies Dealers | $73840 | $35.50 |
| Couriers and Express Delivery Services | $71270 | $34.26 |
| Telecommunications | $67380 | $32.39 |
| Credit Intermediation and Related Activities | $66530 | $31.99 |
| Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services | $66180 | $31.82 |
| Elementary and Secondary Schools | $66130 | $31.79 |
| Scientific Research and Development Services | $65240 | $31.36 |
| State Government | $65200 | $31.35 |
| Employment Services | $65200 | $31.35 |
| Local Government | $65090 | $31.29 |
| Legal Services | $63690 | $30.62 |
| Nondepository Credit Intermediation | $63460 | $30.51 |
| Rail Transportation | $63060 | $30.32 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | $62550 | $30.07 |
| Computer Systems Design and Related Services | $61830 | $29.73 |
| Warehousing and Storage | $60690 | $29.18 |
| Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations | $59690 | $28.70 |
| Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $59630 | $28.67 |
| Investigation and Security Services | $59300 | $28.51 |
| Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities | $58720 | $28.23 |
| Food and Beverage Stores | $56640 | $27.23 |
| Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services | $55940 | $26.89 |
| Other Personal Services | $55760 | $26.81 |
| Facilities Support Services | $55140 | $26.51 |
| Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | $50210 | $24.14 |
| Amusement Parks and Arcades | $48360 | $23.25 |
| Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses | $47880 | $23.02 |
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