Start with the answer
Private Detectives and Investigators pay in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and Memphis, TN-MS-AR
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Private Detectives and Investigators is $61,680 per year in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA. It is $99,680 per year in Memphis, TN-MS-AR. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is 38.1% below Memphis, TN-MS-AR on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 33-9021 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 1,520 wage and salary jobs in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and 310 in Memphis, TN-MS-AR. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.