Forensic Accountant: Follows the money to uncover fraud, embezzlement, and hidden assets. Typical pay $110k.
FBI Art Crime Team Agent: An FBI special agent who recovers stolen art and cultural treasures. Typical pay $115k.
NTSB Accident Investigator: Investigates plane crashes, train derailments, and ship disasters to find out what went wrong. Typical pay $140k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Forensic Anthropologist: Identifies human remains from skeletons to help solve crimes and disasters. Typical pay $90k.
Forensic Genetic Genealogist: Uses DNA and family trees to identify criminals and unknown victims in cold cases. Typical pay $75k.
Certified Fraud Examiner: Investigates fraud inside companies, banks, and government programs. Typical pay $82k.
Digital Forensics Examiner: Recovers deleted files, texts, and data from phones and computers for investigations. Typical pay $88k.
Fire Investigator: Figures out how fires started and whether they were arson. Typical pay $72k.
Forensic Document Examiner: Examines handwriting, signatures, and documents to detect forgeries. Typical pay $80k.
Forensic Entomologist: Uses insects found on bodies to figure out time of death. Typical pay $75k.
Wildlife Forensic Scientist: Solves crimes against animals, like poaching and ivory smuggling, using DNA and lab science. Typical pay $80k.
Polygraph Examiner: Runs lie detector tests for police, government agencies, and security clearances. Typical pay $68k.
Crime Scene Investigator: Collects and analyzes evidence like fingerprints, blood, and DNA from crime scenes. Typical pay $67k.
Chess Fair Play Analyst: Catches cheaters in online chess by comparing players’ moves to chess engines and studying suspicious patterns. Typical pay $80k.
Nuclear Test Monitoring Analyst: Studies earthquake signals, air samples and sound waves from sensors worldwide to detect secret nuclear explosions. Typical pay $105k.
Starter: fastest way in
Bug Bounty Hunter: A freelance hacker who earns cash rewards for finding security bugs in companies' apps. Typical pay $52k.
Private Investigator: Tracks down people, finds hidden info, and does surveillance for clients. Typical pay $52k.
Skip Tracer: Finds people who have disappeared to avoid debts or court dates. Typical pay $42k.
Bail Enforcement Agent: Tracks down and arrests people who skip court after a bail company posted their bail, working for bail bond firms in the states that allow it. Typical pay $45k.
Mystery Shopper: Poses as a regular customer to secretly rate stores, restaurants, and hotels. Typical pay $10k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.