What a Private Investigator Costs in Each State

Average quoted PI rate, top 10 metros

$132/hr4

Agency hour, US $87Low state LA $45High state CO $132

A private investigator costs about $132 an hour in a big US metro. Firms called in April 2026 quoted anywhere from $25 to $2504. Federal numbers say a firm has to bring in about $87 for each hour of investigator pay, running from $45 in Louisiana to $132 in Colorado. The investigator gets $28.92 of it2.

I'm David Schassler. I lead New York Intelligence Agency, a licensed private investigation firm in New York, open since 1989. Here's what the federal data says about your state, what firms actually quote, and how to price a job before you sign anything.

Every Price Guide Says Something Different

Look up what a PI costs and you get three different answers. A law firm that called 32 investigators says $132 an hour on average4. Bark says $68 to $1255. Thumbtack skips the hourly number and gives $257 to $750 for a whole job, with $407 as the average6. None of them give you a state table, and we didn't find a guide that does.

Here's what each one publishes, next to what my own office charges in New York:

Job	Firms called4	Bark5	NYIA, NY7
Hourly rate	$25-$250Average $132	$68-$125Surveillance $95	$240Two: $280
Surveillance day	Not published	$600-$1,6008 hours	$1,3005 hours, vehicle
Background check	$250-$800	$200-$900	$400
Criminal history	$250	$100-$500	$600
Asset search	$525-$1,300	$1,000-$1,600	$400
Finding a person	$775-$875	$700-$1,200	Quoted by case
Retainer	$1,500+	$500-$2,500	Paid up front
Bug sweep	Not published	Not published	$1,400

Watch the asset row. Our $400 covers judgments, liens and bankruptcies. The $1,300 from the firms called is a financial asset search, and the $525 is non-financial. Same words, different jobs. Ask what the search actually covers before you compare. At my office the background check is free when you book surveillance, and the bug sweep comes with a written report7.

What an Investigation Firm Has to Bring In

The 2022 Economic Census counted 4,060 investigation and background check offices with payroll in the US, run by 3,799 firms. They averaged $1,515,925 in sales per office, with about 11.2 people each3. Payroll took 33.3% of sales, so every $1 of pay brought in $3.00.

That 3.00 is the agency multiple. Multiply it by the $28.92 average investigator wage2 and you get $86.84. We call that an agency hour. It's what has to come in the door for each hour an investigator is paid, and it has to cover the car, the databases, the insurance, the office and the owner.

It isn't a rate anyone will quote you. The $132 average quote is 1.5 times the US agency hour. A firm can't bill every hour it pays for, so the billed rate has to sit above it.

What Firms Quote Against What the State Supports

Put the quotes from each big metro4 next to its state's agency hour, and they land between 1.2 and 2.0 times it. Chicago, IL leads at $153. Dallas, TX is lowest at $95, only 1.2 times the Texas agency hour.

The metro averages rest on two or three firms each, 26 quoted rates in total4, so a single metro is a rough read and not a price list. Phoenix's $135 is a $25 quote, a $130 quote and a $250 quote. Same city, ten times the price. Bark's regional table of average spend, from its own database, shows the same kind of spread, from $68 in the East North Central states to $135 in New England5. Bark doesn't state a unit for the table, but its low end matches the $68 in its hourly range:

1. New England$135
2. Middle Atlantic$125
3. Pacific$125
4. West South Central$93
5. East South Central$90
6. West North Central$85
7. South Atlantic$75
8. East North Central$68

My office sits above those averages. Our $240 is 2.5 times the New York agency hour of $97. On our site we spell out why New York runs high: parking, tolls, foot pursuit through crowds, and subjects who can disappear into a subway7.

The Highest and Lowest States

Colorado tops the list at $132 an agency hour. Louisiana is lowest at $45. Pay explains part of that, but the multiple does more. Colorado pays $28.32 with a 4.65x multiple. California pays more, $32.23, and lands lower at $106 because its multiple is 3.30x3.

Read the top of this list with one thing in mind. The Census lumps investigators in with personal background check companies, and it doesn't split them. A screening business that sells database reports can bring in far more per dollar of payroll than a firm paying people to sit in cars. Colorado at 4.65x and South Carolina at 4.16x may reflect some of that3.

Price Your Own Job

Pick your state, type in the rate you were quoted and how long the job runs. It opens on my office's standard day in New York: 5 hours at $240 plus the $100 vehicle charge, which is $1,3007.

Here's a worked example. A second investigator takes our rate to $280, not double, so that day becomes $1,5007. Three days with one investigator comes to $3,900. The same five hours at the $132 metro average is $660 before expenses, and at Bark's $95 surveillance figure it's $4755. A minimum matters as much as the rate, so ask for both.

What to Ask Before You Pay a Retainer

1. Is this hourly, flat or a retainer? Hourly fits open-ended work like surveillance. Flat fees fit defined jobs like a background check. A retainer is a deposit your hours draw against, not an extra charge7.
2. What's the daily minimum? Ours is five hours, because finding the subject and settling into a position takes the first hour7. A low rate with a long minimum can cost more than a high rate with a short one.
3. What's billed on top? Thumbtack's examples include $0.45 to $0.55 a mile for fieldwork6. The law firm's guide says to ask about travel, database fees and equipment, puts a written report at $125 to $550, and says to ask whether testifying costs extra4.
4. Will the estimate be in writing? Thumbtack says to get a contract covering services and fees6. We give a written estimate and a retainer agreement before any work starts7.
5. Are you licensed? On our site I tell people to check the license before they check the price7. The law firm's guide says almost every state requires one, and lists Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, South Dakota and Wyoming as the five that don't4.
6. What can I hand you to save hours? Schedules, photos, vehicles, plate numbers and usual haunts all cut time off the clock. So does starting with a defined surveillance window and extending only if the case justifies it7.

Every State

Investigator pay is the May 2025 mean wage, with the 25th to 75th percentile under it1. Agency multiple is the state's 2022 investigation and background check sales divided by payroll, with its number of offices under it3. Agency hour is pay times multiple, with the same multiple applied to the 25th and 75th percentile wages under it.

State	Investigator pay per hour	Agency multiple	Agency hour
Alabama	$23.44$18 to $25	4.36x40 offices	$102$79 to $110
Alaska	$29.90$21 to $34	Census withheld	Too little data
Arizona	$30.00$20 to $38	2.26x98 offices	$68$45 to $87
Arkansas	$27.86$18 to $34	n/a19 offices	Too little data
California	$32.23$22 to $39	3.30x653 offices	$106$72 to $130
Colorado	$28.32$21 to $33	4.65x93 offices	$132$99 to $151
Connecticut	$32.00$20 to $40	Census withheld	Too little data
Delaware	$28.48$23 to $33	Census withheld	Too little data
District of Columbia	$42.43$22 to $52	n/a7 offices	Too little data
Florida	$26.84$18 to $31	3.00x511 offices	$81$55 to $93
Georgia	$26.31$19 to $29	3.26x151 offices	$86$61 to $94
Hawaii	$26.41$21 to $32	n/a9 offices	Too little data
Idaho	$26.21$21 to $31	Census withheld	Too little data
Illinois	$30.98$21 to $38	2.96x155 offices	$92$63 to $113
Indiana	$23.60$18 to $26	3.94x46 offices	$93$72 to $101
Iowa	$23.17$18 to $26	n/a16 offices	Too little data
Kansas	$24.15$18 to $29	Census withheld	Too little data
Kentucky	$24.58$19 to $27	2.61x24 offices	$64$51 to $70
Louisiana	$22.17$18 to $25	2.04x59 offices	$45$36 to $52
Maine	$23.36$19 to $26	Census withheld	Too little data
Maryland	BLS has no figure	2.54x84 offices	Too little data
Massachusetts	$33.71$20 to $46	2.55x99 offices	$86$52 to $116
Michigan	$25.89$18 to $30	2.37x91 offices	$61$44 to $70
Minnesota	$31.97$22 to $40	2.40x41 offices	$77$53 to $96
Mississippi	$22.29$17 to $25	n/a16 offices	Too little data
Missouri	$23.15$18 to $25	2.57x36 offices	$60$46 to $64
Montana	$25.26$20 to $26	n/a14 offices	Too little data
Nebraska	$27.95$21 to $37	n/a12 offices	Too little data
Nevada	BLS has no figure	3.25x56 offices	Too little data
New Hampshire	$33.34$23 to $38	Census withheld	Too little data
New Jersey	$31.81$21 to $44	3.63x102 offices	$116$75 to $161
New Mexico	$23.82$18 to $31	n/a26 offices	Too little data
New York	$32.84$22 to $39	2.96x326 offices	$97$65 to $115
North Carolina	$29.49$20 to $36	3.05x111 offices	$90$60 to $110
North Dakota	$22.71$19 to $24	Census withheld	Too little data
Ohio	$27.40$20 to $34	3.00x110 offices	$82$60 to $102
Oklahoma	$22.33$18 to $28	Census withheld	Too little data
Oregon	$35.91$27 to $44	3.02x55 offices	$109$81 to $134
Pennsylvania	$28.79$22 to $35	2.48x110 offices	$71$54 to $86
Rhode Island	$29.31$19 to $38	n/a11 offices	Too little data
South Carolina	$28.36$19 to $35	4.16x50 offices	$118$80 to $147
South Dakota	$21.25$20 to $23	Census withheld	Too little data
Tennessee	$30.68$19 to $48	2.46x44 offices	$76$46 to $117
Texas	$28.21$18 to $35	2.87x296 offices	$81$51 to $100
Utah	$28.76$23 to $29	3.85x40 offices	$111$90 to $113
Vermont	$30.61$21 to $37	Census withheld	Too little data
Virginia	$29.78$20 to $37	2.81x99 offices	$84$56 to $104
Washington	$34.15$22 to $41	2.78x82 offices	$95$62 to $113
West Virginia	$23.85$18 to $29	Census withheld	Too little data
Wisconsin	$24.36$19 to $28	2.90x33 offices	$71$54 to $81
Wyoming	$28.27$21 to $36	Census withheld	Too little data
United States	$28.92$20 to $36	3.00x4,060 offices	$87$59 to $107

District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska have fewer than 20 offices in the Census count, so one firm could set the multiple, and we don't give them an agency hour. BLS publishes no mean investigator wage for Maryland, Nevada. The Census withheld sales or payroll for Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and we didn't fill those in with a guess. 27 states have a full figure.

The Biggest Metro Areas

This list covers every metro with at least 30 offices. Sales per worker is 2022 sales divided by everyone on payroll3. Jacksonville, FL is highest at $235,588 and San Diego, CA is lowest at $60,744. Average quote is the April 2026 figure where one was published4. Atlanta has a quote of $123 but isn't listed, because the Census withheld its figures.

Metro	Offices, multiple	Sales per worker	Average quote
New York, NY	3082.91x	$138,830	$150/hr
Los Angeles, CA	2763.50x	$202,169	$128/hr
Miami, FL	1962.98x	$106,191	$117/hr
Chicago, IL	1283.05x	$116,699	$153/hr
Houston, TX	922.78x	$146,810	$120/hr
Washington, DC	882.83x	$136,961	$150/hr
Dallas, TX	852.85x	$148,059	$95/hr
Riverside, CA	823.26x	$160,109	None published
Philadelphia, PA	813.95x	$198,882	$130/hr
Boston, MA	772.51x	$121,695	None published
Phoenix, AZ	772.25x	$82,068	$135/hr
Orlando, FL	613.18x	$101,813	None published
Sacramento, CA	612.66x	$109,120	None published
Detroit, MI	562.65x	$116,096	None published
Seattle, WA	482.59x	$130,565	None published
Portland, OR	452.94x	$121,694	None published
San Diego, CA	452.16x	$60,744	None published
Charlotte, NC	403.62x	$165,194	None published
Jacksonville, FL	333.66x	$235,588	None published
Minneapolis, MN	332.46x	$114,306	None published
Columbus, OH	322.73x	$91,731	None published
Cleveland, OH	313.28x	$142,982	None published

How We Got These Numbers

We used two federal files. The Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 wage survey gives investigator pay for each state1 and the US2. The 2022 Economic Census, the newest one, gives sales, payroll, employees and office counts for investigation and personal background check businesses with payroll3. Published prices come from the guides cited next to them, read on November 7, 2026.

As a check, we ran the US math without BLS at all. Census sales per worker were $134,843 in 2022, which is $64.83 an hour across a 2,080-hour full-time year. That's lower than our $86.84, which is what you'd expect: it's in 2022 dollars, and the Census head count includes office staff and part-timers.

Four things to keep in mind. The multiple is from 2022 and we assume it has held, because the next Economic Census isn't out yet. It mixes investigators with background check companies, as covered above. The Census file leaves out solo investigators with no payroll, and plenty of PIs work that way. And the BLS wage covers investigators in every industry, not only those at investigation firms.