​​What private investigators can expect to earn in Denver and nationwide

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

Today is Labor Day, the nationwide holiday celebrated the 1st Monday of the month of September, according to the US Department of Labor. It is "dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers" so Happy Labor Day, to those who are celebrating. 

Over a hundred years ago, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency served as a private militia to industrialists.  Benjamin Welton's January 2015 article in The Atlantic details how this agency --with its robust database of newspaper clippings, mugshots and measurements, filled in where the federal and local law enforcement of the time fell short. Ultimately the Pinkerton's explicitly violent, anti-union stance overwhelmed them with negative press thereby alienating the literate middle class.

"Private detective novels set in the modern day are rarely published anymore" Welton concludes before going on to point out that the cases most private investigators take on today --infidelity, divorce and social scandals-- would have been shunned by the Pinkertons. 

Today, the private detective industry remains un-unionized. A hard working, private investigator in Denver, Colorado can earn an average of $51,894 a year, according to Glassdoor.com's September 1, 2016 report based on 36 salaries. This is almost 50% higher than the average, $34,270 annual that PIs earn nationwide.

Last year we reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) average was They average $45,740 per year or $21.99 per hour with finance, insurance and legal investigation jobs paying the highest. That was last year, though. The current BLS report reports the average (based on 2015 data) is $45,610 a year and $21.93 an hour which is a drop in $130 a year or six cents an hour.

More surprising was the job outlook shift which, last year, stated "the field is expected to grow by 11% between 2012 (when the data was complied) and 2022 which is considered average growth." This year's report using data from 2014 and projects through 2024, however was less optimistic, predicting the field to only grow 5% during that time which, though a lower number, is also average. 

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