Detectives and Criminal Investigators
US occupation · SOC 33-3021
Job titles people report: Criminal Investigator, CSI (Crime Scene Investigator), Detective, Fugitive Detective, Fugitive Investigator, Investigator, Narcotics Detective, Narcotics Investigator, Police Detective, Special Agent
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $93,790
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $69,330 – $120,520
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 114,430
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +0.2%
- Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 7,800
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- High school diploma or equivalent
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve crimes.
Main tasks
- Prepare reports that detail investigation findings.
- Obtain and verify evidence by interviewing and observing suspects and witnesses or by analyzing records.
- Preserve, process, and analyze items of evidence obtained from crime scenes and suspects, placing them in proper containers and destroying evidence no longer needed.
- Obtain facts or statements from complainants, witnesses, and accused persons and record interviews, using recording device.
- Record progress of investigation, maintain informational files on suspects, and submit reports to commanding officer or magistrate to authorize warrants.
- Analyze completed police reports to determine what additional information and investigative work is needed.
- Note, mark, and photograph location of objects found, such as footprints, tire tracks, bullets and bloodstains, and take measurements of the scene.
- Secure deceased body and obtain evidence from it, preventing bystanders from tampering with it prior to medical examiner's arrival.
More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Intelligence Analysts, Police Identification and Records Officers.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Work experience in a related job: less than 5 years
- Training once hired: moderate-term on-the-job training
- O*NET Job Zone 3
- Medium preparation
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
- Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
- Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 14 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Environmental Studies
- Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Environmental Studies at the Major step.
Where many students take environmental studies
- Unity Environmental UniversityNew Gloucester, ME · 39% of degrees · 6,483 undergraduates
- Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 2% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
- Oregon State UniversityCorvallis, OR · 7% of degrees · 30,743 undergraduates
- University of California-BerkeleyBerkeley, CA · 5% of degrees · 33,068 undergraduates
- University of VermontBurlington, VT · 13% of degrees · 11,743 undergraduates
- University of Wisconsin-Stevens PointStevens Point, WI · 19% of degrees · 7,306 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Criminal Justice
- Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management
- Suspension and Debarment Investigation
- Maritime Law Enforcement
- Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection
- Criminalistics and Criminal Science
4 more programmes
- Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism
- Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation
- Geospatial Intelligence
- Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Criminal Justice at the Major step.
Where many students take criminal justice
- Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 6% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
- CUNY John Jay College of Criminal JusticeNew York, NY · 46% of degrees · 11,590 undergraduates
- Sam Houston State UniversityHuntsville, TX · 20% of degrees · 17,743 undergraduates
- Liberty UniversityLynchburg, VA · 6% of degrees · 50,012 undergraduates
- University of Maryland Global CampusAdelphi, MD · 6% of degrees · 49,664 undergraduates
- The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyEdinburg, TX · 9% of degrees · 28,666 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Other fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.
Military Technologies and Applied Sciences
- Signal/Geospatial Intelligence
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Private Detectives and Investigators
$51,220 median · +5.5% projected
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
$76,210 median · +3.5% projected
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
$106,040 median · +3.3% projected
- Forensic Science Technicians
$72,060 median · +13.3% projected
- Transit and Railroad Police
$90,230 median · +3.2% projected
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
$66,270 median · +3% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk