How to Become a Private Investigator: Licensing and Pay
How to become a private investigator usually means a high school diploma, several years of related work experience and, in most states, a license. BLS says some employers prefer a college degree. Private investigators (SOC 33-9021) earned a median of $51,220 a year in May 2025, a figure that leaves out the self-employed.
How to Become a Private Investigator, Step by Step
- Finish high school. Private investigators typically need at least a high school diploma or the equivalent. Some employers require or prefer a college degree.
- Build related work experience. Investigators typically need several years of work experience in a related occupation, such as law enforcement, the military or federal intelligence. The police officer guide covers the first of those.
- Get licensed where your state requires it. Most states require private investigators to be licensed. A license usually asks for a stated amount of experience, and the table below shows how five states write theirs.
- Learn on the job. Private investigators often learn through on-the-job training, which may last several months or longer.
- Consider a certification. Some workers opt to earn professional certification, which demonstrates competence in a particular area of investigation work.
Private Investigator License Requirements in Five States
Licensing is the step of how to become a private investigator that changes most from state to state. These five states write theirs in their own agency rules and statutes, in the words each one uses for the experience it asks for.
| State | Route to a license | Other requirements |
|---|---|---|
| California | At least three years (6,000 hours) of compensated investigative experience; or a law degree or a completed four-year course in police science plus two years (4,000 hours); or an associate degree in police science, criminal law or justice plus two and a half years (5,000 hours). | Age 18 or older and a two-hour multiple-choice exam on laws and regulations, terminology, liability, evidence handling, undercover investigations and surveillance. |
| Texas | For an investigations company’s representative: three consecutive years of investigation experience; or a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice or a related course of study; or any bachelor’s degree plus 12 months of investigation experience; or an associate degree in criminal justice or a related course of study plus 24 months. | A written examination administered by the Department of Public Safety. |
| Florida | For a Class C license: 2 years of verifiable full-time experience or training in investigative work, college coursework related to criminal justice, criminology or law enforcement administration, or work as a Class CC licensed intern. Coursework and law enforcement training together can count for no more than 1 year. | A Class CC intern completes at least 40 hours of professional training from a state university or approved school and passes an examination. |
| New York | At least three years regularly employed in investigations as a sheriff, a city or county police officer, a state police member, an investigator in a state, county or federal agency, or an employee of a licensed private investigator, or an equivalent position and experience. | Established to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State. |
| Pennsylvania | At least three years as a detective, in the federal government’s investigative service, as a sheriff, as a Pennsylvania State Police member, or in a city police department at a rank higher than patrolman. | No license is issued to anyone under the age of twenty-five. |
How to Become a Private Investigator With a Criminal Justice Degree
A degree isn’t required everywhere. BLS says education requirements vary: some employers require a high school diploma or the equivalent, while others require a bachelor’s degree. Fields of study may include closely related ones, such as security and protective service, or ones with wide applicability, such as business.
Where a criminal justice degree does work is in licensing. Texas lists a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice as enough on its own for an investigations company’s representative, California lets an associate degree in justice replace some of the experience hours, and Florida counts criminal justice coursework toward up to a year of its two. New York and Pennsylvania state their rules in years of investigative or police work.
What a Private Investigator Does and Where They Work
Private investigators interview people, search online, public and court records for civil judgments, criminal history and other evidence, conduct surveillance, write reports on their activities and findings, and share the results with clients. They may work outdoors or from a vehicle, in all kinds of weather, to get information, and most work full time on schedules that may include early mornings, nights and weekends, especially during surveillance. They lack police authority, so they’re held to the same standards of conduct as private citizens.
BLS counted 39,500 jobs in 2025. Retail trade accounts for 34% of them, and government for 8%.
Private Investigator Salary: What the Job Pays
Private detectives and investigators (SOC 33-9021) earned a median of $51,220 a year in May 2025, or $24.62 an hour, in BLS’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The mean was $60,150, the middle half earned between $40,700 and $73,990, 10% earned less than $36,740 and 10% earned more than $97,630. BLS counted 35,580 workers in the survey. Its wage data doesn’t cover self-employed workers or owners and partners of unincorporated businesses.
| Percentile | Annual wage |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $36,740 |
| 25th percentile | $40,700 |
| Median | $51,220 |
| 75th percentile | $73,990 |
| 90th percentile | $97,630 |
| Mean | $60,150 |
Percentiles show where a worker falls in the range, not how long they’ve worked, so the 10th percentile isn’t a starting salary.
Private Investigator Pay by Industry
The handbook gives the May 2025 median for the five industries that employ the most private investigators, with each industry’s share of the jobs. They are the handbook’s figures, not the wage survey’s.
| Industry | Share of jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Government | 8% | $75,810 |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | 6% | $75,710 |
| Finance and insurance | 11% | $72,740 |
| Administrative and support services | 18% | $50,720 |
| Retail trade | 34% | $41,480 |
Private Investigator Job Outlook Through 2035
BLS projects that overall employment of private detectives and investigators will grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations. About 3,200 openings a year are projected for the group, on average, over the decade.
In BLS's projections table, private detectives and investigators have a row of their own: 39,500 jobs in 2025 and 41,700 projected for 2035, growth of 5 percent.
Degree Routes Toward Investigative Work
A degree can shorten a license’s experience requirement in some states and satisfy an employer that prefers one. These rankings compare the programs by cost, graduate earnings and four other factors.
- Two-Year Degrees Associate Degree in Criminal Justice 683 ranked associate’s programs, scored on cost, graduate earnings and four other factors. BLS lists a high school diploma plus less than 5 years of experience as the typical entry education for private detectives and investigators.
- Campus and Online Best Colleges for Criminal Justice 745 ranked bachelor’s programs, campus and online, priced at the in-state rate. BLS lists a high school diploma plus less than 5 years of experience as the typical entry education for private detectives and investigators.
- Online Bachelor’s Degrees Online Criminal Justice Degree 187 ranked online bachelor’s programs, priced for an online student from another state. Median pay for private detectives and investigators is $51,220 (SOC 33-9021, May 2025).
Questions About Becoming a Private Investigator
Do You Need a Degree to Be a Private Investigator?
Do You Need a License to Become a Private Investigator?
How Much Do Private Investigators Make?
What Is the Best Degree to Become a Private Investigator?
Can a Private Investigator Make Arrests?
What Does a Private Investigator Do?
Sources for the Private Investigator Guide
- Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- Pay for Private Detectives and Investigators (SOC 33-9021): BLS OEWS occupation profile, May 2025.
- Duties, education, experience, training, employers, pay by industry and the 2025 to 2035 projection: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Private Detectives and Investigators, last modified August 27, 2026.
- Typical entry education: BLS Employment Projections, education and training assignments by occupation, 2025.
- Licensing: California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, Texas Department of Public Safety, Florida Statutes section 493.6203, New York General Business Law section 72 and Pennsylvania’s Private Detective Act of 1953.
- Handbook and licensing pages read on October 7, 2026.