Homicide Detective Overview
Working as a Homicide Detective
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a homicide detective. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.42 an hour? That's $61,184 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 37,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Homicide Detective Do
There are certain skills that many homicide detectives have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed empathy, physical stamina and good judgment.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a homicide detective, we found that a lot of resumes listed 21.4% of homicide detectives included criminal activity, while 14.5% of resumes included crime prevention, and 12.5% of resumes included search warrants. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
How To Become a Homicide Detective
If you're interested in becoming a homicide detective, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 57.6% of homicide detectives have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.6% of homicide detectives have master's degrees. Even though most homicide detectives have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a homicide detective. When we researched the most common majors for a homicide detective, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on homicide detective resumes include high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a homicide detective. In fact, many homicide detective jobs require experience in a role such as detective. Meanwhile, many homicide detectives also have previous career experience in roles such as police officer or patrol officer.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Homicide Detective Jobs
Homicide Detective Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a homicide detective can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as sergeant, progress to a title such as investigator and then eventually end up with the title senior investigator.
| Top Careers Before Homicide Detective |
|---|
Detective22.0 % |
Police Officer19.5 % |
Patrol Officer15.3 % |
Deputy Sheriff4.2 % |
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| Top Careers After Homicide Detective |
|---|
Detective16.2 % |
Police Officer11.8 % |
Sergeant8.1 % |
Investigator5.9 % |
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What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Homicide Detective Demographics
| Gender |
|---|
Male 86.6 % |
Female 9.4 % |
Unknown 4.0 % |
| Ethnicity |
White 59.3 % |
Black or African American 15.9 % |
Hispanic or Latino 15.2 % |
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| Foreign Languages Spoken |
Spanish 75.0 % |
Thai 12.5 % |
Japanese 12.5 % |
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Homicide Detective Education
| Schools |
|---|
Saint Leo University 10.0 % |
Saint Francis College 6.7 % |
Tulane University 6.7 % |
Florida International University 6.7 % |
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| Majors |
Criminal Justice 50.0 % |
Business 6.3 % |
Law Enforcement 6.3 % |
Psychology 4.7 % |
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| Degrees |
Bachelors 57.6 % |
Masters 13.6 % |
High School Diploma 13.6 % |
Associate 6.8 % |
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Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Homicide Detective
Top Skills For a Homicide Detective
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 21.4% of homicide detectives listed criminal activity on their resume, but soft skills such as empathy and physical stamina are important as well.