CitySalaryData

Official BLS salary lookup

Search a job and place

Private Detectives and Investigators · SOC 33-9021

Private Detectives and Investigators Salary in the San Diego Metro Area

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro area

Figures describe the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metropolitan statistical area as defined by BLS/OMB — the whole multi-county metro region, not San Diego city limits.

Median annual wage$48,650
Median hourly wage$23.39

Private Detectives and Investigators in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro area earned a median of $48,650 per year ($23.39 per hour) as of the May 2025 BLS OEWS estimates. Pay ranged from $42,510 at the 10th percentile to $103,600 at the 90th. BLS estimates 280 people work in this occupation in the area.

Pay distribution

Half of Private Detectives and Investigators in the San Diego metro area earn more than $48,650 per year, half earn less; the middle half earn between $43,560 and $64,080.

Wage percentiles (BLS OEWS)
Wage10th25thMedian75th90th
Annual$42,510$43,560$48,650$64,080$103,600
Hourly$20.44$20.94$23.39$30.81$49.81

A percentile is a cut point: 25% of workers in this occupation and area earn less than the 25th-percentile wage. The median is the 50th percentile — half earn less, half earn more.

Download CSV

How this area compares

  • San Diego metro areathis metro area
    $48,650
  • Californiastate (CA)
    $61,250
  • United Statesnational
    $51,220

Bars span the 25th–75th percentile (the middle half of workers); the tick marks the median.

The median here is −21% vs California overall and −5% vs the U.S. median for this occupation.

Compare with other areas

Where this metro sits nationally

$36,530$57,580$78,630$99,680San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR — $36,530Lubbock, TX — $36,640Columbus, GA-AL — $36,750Shreveport-Bossier City, LA — $37,030McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX — $37,090Lansing-East Lansing, MI — $37,750Oklahoma City, OK — $37,840Jackson, MS — $37,920Wichita, KS — $37,940El Paso, TX — $38,070Fayetteville, NC — $38,500Springfield, MO — $38,690Canton-Massillon, OH — $38,750Charleston-North Charleston, SC — $39,060Fort Wayne, IN — $39,220Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL — $39,260Toledo, OH — $39,600Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL — $39,690Lafayette, LA — $39,800Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL — $39,960Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA — $41,110Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC — $41,330Akron, OH — $41,420Tucson, AZ — $41,450Greensboro-High Point, NC — $41,630Albuquerque, NM — $41,680Gulfport-Biloxi, MS — $41,690Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI — $41,850Lexington-Fayette, KY — $41,930Colorado Springs, CO — $42,140Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI — $42,140Madison, WI — $42,320Winston-Salem, NC — $42,660Worcester, MA — $42,720St. Louis, MO-IL — $42,930Knoxville, TN — $43,150Bakersfield-Delano, CA — $43,230Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA — $43,420New Orleans-Metairie, LA — $43,500Fresno, CA — $43,590Youngstown-Warren, OH — $43,740Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY — $43,890Huntsville, AL — $43,950Omaha, NE-IA — $44,100Tulsa, OK — $44,340Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA — $44,390Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN — $44,550Kansas City, MO-KS — $44,640Baton Rouge, LA — $44,810Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC — $44,820Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN — $44,890Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA — $45,080Raleigh-Cary, NC — $45,390Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL — $45,440Cleveland, OH — $45,660Urban Honolulu, HI — $45,750Savannah, GA — $45,960Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC — $45,990Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX — $46,110Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN — $46,190Fort Smith, AR-OK — $46,380Tyler, TX — $46,390Ocala, FL — $46,470Providence-Warwick, RI-MA — $46,560Portland-South Portland, ME — $46,610Montgomery, AL — $47,100Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL — $47,360Boise City, ID — $47,690Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI — $47,690Mobile, AL — $47,770Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR — $47,960Visalia, CA — $47,970Columbia, SC — $48,000Jacksonville, FL — $48,060Evansville, IN — $48,280Port St. Lucie, FL — $48,430Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH — $48,510Vallejo, CA — $48,600Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL — $48,630San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA — $48,650Birmingham, AL — $49,390Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN — $49,420Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC — $49,740Pittsburgh, PA — $49,810Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL — $49,870Reading, PA — $50,200Stockton-Lodi, CA — $50,220Rochester, NY — $50,510Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY — $50,540Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ — $50,710Syracuse, NY — $50,730Greenville, NC — $51,010Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA — $51,130Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL — $51,390Gainesville, FL — $51,580Columbus, OH — $51,780North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL — $51,950Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO — $52,000Richmond, VA — $52,430Durham-Chapel Hill, NC — $53,610Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD — $53,680Lincoln, NE — $53,800Asheville, NC — $53,900Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY — $53,930Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL — $54,720Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT — $55,420Ogden, UT — $55,450Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL — $56,370Tallahassee, FL — $56,510Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA — $56,530San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX — $56,760Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX — $57,620Salt Lake City-Murray, UT — $57,910Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA — $58,170Modesto, CA — $58,460New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ — $59,140Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL — $59,350Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA — $59,490Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA — $59,770Corpus Christi, TX — $60,090Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH — $60,910Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX — $61,460Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA — $61,460Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA — $61,680Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV — $62,300Fort Collins-Loveland, CO — $62,520Eugene-Springfield, OR — $63,940San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA — $64,060Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT — $64,080Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ — $64,400New Haven, CT — $65,030Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN — $68,310San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA — $70,150Burlington-South Burlington, VT — $70,190Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI — $70,220Manchester-Nashua, NH — $70,780Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC — $73,430Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA — $75,670Waterbury-Shelton, CT — $76,630Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT — $77,540Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA — $78,330Salem, OR — $81,070Memphis, TN-MS-AR — $99,680

Each dot is one metro area with a published median — hover any dot for the name and figure. Metros without published estimates are not drawn.

The San Diego metro area has the 64th-highest published median for this occupation among the 143 metro areas where BLS publishes it. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Other metro areas in California

Metro areas in the same state with published May 2025 medians for private detectives and investigators, highest first. Areas without published estimates are not listed.

  • San Diego metro areathis page
    $48,650
  • San Francisco metro area
    $70,150
  • San Jose metro area
    $64,060
  • Los Angeles metro area
    $61,680
  • Riverside metro area
    $59,490
  • Modesto metro area
    $58,460
  • Oxnard metro area
    $58,170

Bars span the 25th–75th percentile (the middle half of workers); the tick marks the median.

Keep exploring

Other occupations in the same SOC group with published medians here, largest employment first:

Security Guards$38,500Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$110,400Detectives and Criminal Investigators$124,840Firefighters$70,900Protective Service Workers, All Other$44,270Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers$43,050

Highest-paying metro areas for private detectives and investigatorss · Highest-paying occupations in San Diego Metro

About this estimate

These figures are survey estimates from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — modeled from employer reports collected over three years and benchmarked to May 2025. They describe what employers in this area currently pay across all industries, not what any individual worker will be offered.

Employment counts wage-and-salary jobs in the occupation (self-employed workers are excluded). Estimates carry sampling error; percentile wages are rounded by BLS. Some values are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality or quality — suppressed values appear here as “not published”, never as zero. Read the full methodology.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.