Salary of a Detective or Criminal Investigator
Criminal investigators and detectives are in a growth industry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a population increase to keep the demand for law enforcement growing through the year 2018. Though there is job security across the nation, there is a wide gap in the amount that criminal investigators are paid; regions with higher population concentrations tend to have higher pay for detectives than their rural counterparts.
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Average Salary
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The average annual salary for a criminal investigator was $81,220 as of April 2011, according to CareerBuilder. The job listing website reported the salary range for the middle 50 percent of criminal investigators as being between $64,406 and $122,935.
Top-Paying Regions
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Washington, D.C. led the country in wages for detectives and criminal investigators, as reported in a May 2009 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those working in the nation's capital had a mean income of $94,620. The five top-paying states and their annual mean wage were rounded out by New Jersey at $85,930, California at $80,140, Delaware at $77,960 and Maryland at $77,910.
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Low-Paying Regions
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Louisiana had the lowest average wage paid to detectives and criminal investigators, according to the bureau, with an annual mean wage of just $51,890. Next up the scale was Georgia at $53,530, followed by New Mexico at $54,650, Arizona at $57,230 and Texas at $58,720.
Job Outlook
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The outlook for employment as a criminal investigator or detective is good, according to the bureau. It is expected that law enforcement will grow by 10 percent through the year 2018, due to a predicted increase in population. The bureau also says that job openings will be created by the retirement of those currently in service and the movement of others to higher paying jobs in private security.
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