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The differences between legal investigators and private investigators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a legal investigator, becoming a private investigator takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a legal investigator has an average salary of $72,914, which is higher than the $48,019 average annual salary of a private investigator.
The top three skills for a legal investigator include investigative reports, litigation and legal investigations. The most important skills for a private investigator are background checks, background investigations, and video surveillance.
| Legal Investigator | Private Investigator | |
| Yearly salary | $72,914 | $48,019 |
| Hourly rate | $35.05 | $23.09 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 9,582 | 6,675 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
Legal investigators are professionals tasked with providing research, investigative services, and surveillance to the public, insurance companies, financial institutions, law firms, banks, and even local law enforcement agencies. They use methods and tools to uncover facts about financial, personal, and legal matters. This type of investigator must pay attention to analyzing details and evidence, but it will be difficult to know to begin. There is no need for formal education to be a legal investigator, one must take a legal investigator certificate course.
Private investigators will require skills in surveillance, research, interviewing, critical thinking, and communication. Those who choose this career path will be called on to find information for organizations and individuals, as well as engage in different cases. An investigator's goal is to find legal, personal, or financial information through background checks, interviews, and surveillance.
Legal investigators and private investigators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Investigator | Private Investigator | |
| Average salary | $72,914 | $48,019 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $117,000 | Between $29,000 And $78,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | - |
| Highest paying state | - | - |
| Best paying company | - | - |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between a legal investigator and a private investigator in terms of educational background:
| Legal Investigator | Private Investigator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Criminal Justice |
| Most common college | University of Richmond | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Here are the differences between legal investigators' and private investigators' demographics:
| Legal Investigator | Private Investigator | |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.0% Female, 34.0% | Male, 73.1% Female, 26.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 13.2% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.9% Asian, 4.6% White, 57.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 8% |