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How to Become a Detective: Steps, Pay and Education

, Contributor at Savo Media Group

Last updated

How to become a detective starts with becoming a police officer: BLS says detectives typically begin their careers in patrol because they need law enforcement experience. The typical entry education is a high school diploma plus less than 5 years of related experience, and federal agencies such as the FBI may require a bachelor’s degree. Detectives and criminal investigators (SOC 33-3021) earned a median of $93,790 a year in May 2025.

A man in a gray suit stands before a corkboard of pinned photos, the work of a detective.

Median pay BLS 33-3021, May 2025

$93,790

a year

Typical entry education BLS

High school

diploma plus less than 5 years of related experience

Jobs in 2025 BLS

120,500

BLS projections

Openings a year BLS

7,800

projected, 2025 to 2035

How to Become a Detective: The Path From Patrol

BLS treats detective work as a step on the police path. The stages look like this.

  1. Become a police officer. Detectives need experience in law enforcement, so they typically begin their careers as police officers. Meeting the age and screening standards and graduating from the academy are the same steps patrol officers take, and the police officer guide goes through them.
  2. Build related experience. BLS’s education assignment for detectives is a high school diploma plus less than 5 years of related work experience, with moderate-term on-the-job training.
  3. Be promoted or appointed. In large departments, an officer may be promoted to detective or to specialize in one type of police work, such as working with juveniles. Officers usually become eligible for promotion after a probationary period.
  4. Specialize. In large police departments, detectives usually specialize in investigating one type of crime, such as homicide or fraud.
  5. Or go federal. Some federal agencies may require a bachelor’s degree for investigators. That is a different road from the department path, and the FBI agent guide follows it.

How to Become a Detective With a Criminal Justice Degree

For a local detective job, BLS’s entry level is a high school diploma and the experience above. It also says the education typically required to enter police and detective work ranges from a high school diploma to a college degree. Where a degree is written into the rules, it’s usually federal:

Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation may require prospective detectives and investigators to have a bachelor's degree.

BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Police and Detectives

A criminal justice degree helps in two other places. Some police departments offer additional pay for bilingual officers or those with college degrees, and a bachelor’s degree may be required for advancement to lieutenant or a higher rank. Many community colleges and four-year colleges offer programs in law enforcement and criminal justice, and BLS names security and protective service and social science as the common fields of degree among entry-level police applicants.

What Detectives Do on the Job

Detectives and criminal investigators are uniformed or plainclothes officers who gather facts and collect evidence related to criminal cases. They conduct interviews, examine records, monitor suspects, and take part in raids and arrests. Detectives typically investigate serious crimes, such as assaults, robberies and homicides, and they’re typically assigned cases on a rotating basis and work them until an arrest and trial are completed or the case is dropped. BLS notes that detectives and criminal investigators are sometimes called agents or special agents.

Detectives share the profession’s conditions. Police and detective work can be physically demanding, stressful and dangerous, and officers regularly work at crime scenes and encounter the results of violence. Most police and detectives work full time, paid overtime is common, and shift work is necessary to protect the public at all times.

Detective Salary: What the Job Pays

Detectives and criminal investigators (SOC 33-3021) earned a median of $93,790 a year in May 2025, according to BLS’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The mean was $99,430. The middle half earned between $69,330 and $120,520, and the spread between the ends is wide: 10% earned less than $55,390 and 10% earned more than $160,540. BLS counted 114,430 of them in the survey.

Detectives (SOC 33-3021): annual pay by percentile, May 2025
PercentileAnnual wage
10th percentile $55,390
25th percentile $69,330
Median $93,790
75th percentile $120,520
90th percentile $160,540
Mean $99,430

Patrol officers earned a median of $76,210 in the same release, a gap of $17,580 at the median. Percentiles describe where a worker sits in the survey, not how long they’ve served: the 10th percentile isn’t a starting detective’s pay.

Detective Salary by State

BLS reports detective pay for 51 states and districts. The District of Columbia paid the highest median, $160,760, and Arkansas the lowest, $54,500. 19 of the 51 had a median above the national figure. A state with few detectives can post an unusual median, so the employed column matters as much as the pay. The table holds the 25 highest-paying states and the list continues the order.

Detectives (SOC 33-3021): median pay in the 25 highest-paying states, May 2025
StateMedian pay10th percentile90th percentileDetectives employed
District of Columbia $160,760$94,220$195,1902,980
Maryland $126,730$71,200$188,7001,010
California $124,840$78,280$165,51012,610
Delaware $122,050$65,830$164,510140
New Jersey $116,300$73,100$165,5703,080
Washington $115,790$84,500$162,8601,850
Alaska $114,940$79,680$183,680140
Hawaii $113,940$92,520$165,030440
Virginia $112,760$62,730$195,1903,180
Massachusetts $110,150$76,150$179,0301,300
Oregon $107,450$81,990$158,060520
Vermont $106,330$65,690$153,670190
Colorado $105,480$73,010$161,5501,930
Arizona $102,340$60,590$142,3805,250
New York $101,240$62,130$166,8009,600
Nebraska $100,530$68,900$155,210290
Pennsylvania $97,580$63,770$154,3603,370
Connecticut $95,240$78,990$130,540940
Nevada $94,470$60,920$152,480590
Montana $92,410$58,670$144,000500
West Virginia $92,410$48,450$171,250220
Illinois $91,190$53,960$157,0603,270
Wisconsin $91,040$70,060$103,1301,640
Michigan $90,650$71,590$164,6702,220
Texas $90,510$52,510$132,85018,870

Detective Job Outlook Through 2035

BLS projects that overall employment of police and detectives will grow 3 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations. About 60,100 openings a year are projected for the group, on average, over the decade.

In BLS's projections table, detectives and criminal investigators have a row of their own: 120,500 jobs in 2025 and 120,700 projected for 2035, a change of 0 percent, or 200 jobs. BLS's openings table puts the annual figure for this job alone at about 7,800.

The group figure covers patrol officers as well, so it can differ from the detective row. BLS expects demand for employment to vary by location, driven largely by local and state budgets.

Degree Routes Toward a Detective Career

Detective work rewards experience first, and the degree you pick should fit the department you’re aiming for. These rankings compare the programs that lead into police and investigative careers.

Questions About Becoming a Detective

How Many Years Does It Take to Become a Detective?
BLS’s education assignment for how to become a detective pairs a high school diploma with under 5 years of related work experience, and it says detectives typically begin their careers as police officers.

What Is the Difference Between a Detective and a Police Officer?
Detectives are uniformed or plainclothes officers who gather facts and collect evidence related to criminal cases, typically serious ones such as assaults, robberies and homicides. Patrol officers are the most common type of police officer and have general law enforcement duties, including regular patrols and responding to calls. The police officer guide covers the patrol path.

Do You Need a Degree to Be a Detective?
For most local departments, BLS’s entry level is a high school diploma plus less than 5 years of related experience, not a degree. Federal agencies such as the FBI may require prospective detectives and investigators to have a bachelor’s degree, and the FBI’s current special agent posting asks for one. The FBI agent guide has the posting’s rules.

How Much Do Detectives Make?
Detectives and criminal investigators (SOC 33-3021) earned a median of $93,790 a year in May 2025, or $45.09 an hour. The middle half earned between $69,330 and $120,520, 10% earned less than $55,390 and 10% earned more than $160,540.

Where Do Detectives Make the Most Money?
The District of Columbia had the highest median for detectives (SOC 33-3021), $160,760, followed by Maryland at $126,730. Arkansas had the lowest at $54,500. These are wages, not adjusted for living costs.

Can You Become a Detective Without Being a Police Officer?
BLS says detectives typically begin their careers as police officers because they need experience in law enforcement. BLS points to one exception: federal agencies such as the FBI may require prospective detectives and investigators to have a bachelor’s degree. Private detectives are a different job with its own rules, covered in the private investigator guide.

Sources for the Detective Guide

More Guides Beside the Detective Career