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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Detectives And Criminal Investigators Salary: Tallahassee, FL vs Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Detectives And Criminal Investigators earn a median of $57,900 in Tallahassee, FL and $153,340 in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV. That is a nominal gap of $95,440 (-62.2%), with Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$57,900
Tallahassee, FL median
$61,649 after COL
$153,340
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV median
$140,829 after COL
-62.2%
Nominal gap
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV leads
-56.2%
Adjusted gap
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV pays $95,440 more per year than Tallahassee, FL for detectives and criminal investigators, a gap of +62.2%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV still comes out ahead, with roughly $79,180 of extra purchasing power (+56.2% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for detectives and criminal investigators in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Detectives And Criminal Investigators

Tallahassee, FL

Median salary
$57,900
Mean salary
$63,130
Employment
530
Location quotient
4.00
Jobs per 1,000
2.9
COL-adjusted median
$61,649
Regional Price Parity
93.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Detectives And Criminal Investigators page for Tallahassee, FL →

Detectives And Criminal Investigators

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Median salary
$153,340
Mean salary
$144,050
Employment
4,760
Location quotient
2.13
Jobs per 1,000
1.5
COL-adjusted median
$140,829
Regional Price Parity
108.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Detectives And Criminal Investigators page for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV →

Related pages

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Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a metro specializes in.