Compare private investigation companies in Denver and request free quotes.
Typically from $51 USD per investigator/hour. See prices →
1 companies
Private investigation in Denver covers surveillance, background and due-diligence research, and fraud or misconduct inquiries handled by a state-licensed investigator.
In Denver, demand for private investigation is driven by the commercial hub of the Mountain West and a large legal cannabis industry. The sectors that most rely on this service include cannabis, sports and events, corporate and financial services, with specific needs in areas such as Downtown and the LoDo entertainment district, Ball Arena, Coors Field and Empower Field, the dispensary and cannabis-facility districts. The city's main security concerns — cannabis-industry cash-handling and dispensary security and large-scale event and venue crowd management — make working with a licensed, professional provider a priority investment for businesses and homeowners.
HireSecurityNow.com connects you with licensed private investigation companies in Denver. Compare options, review profiles and request free quotes to find the provider that best fits your needs and budget.
Estimated range per investigator/hour in Denver:
$51 — $150 USD
That puts Denver in line with the US national range ($50 — $150).
Licensed investigator, billed by the hour plus expenses (mileage, database access, equipment) and usually an upfront retainer. Surveillance and multi-investigator work bill higher than records-based research. Discuss the rate, retainer and likely total in writing before engaging.
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Before you hire
A buyer's guide to hiring a private investigator in the US: what PIs can and cannot legally do, state-by-state licensing, real hourly rates and retainers, how to vet a firm, and when to hire through a lawyer instead.
Read the private investigation buyer's guideColorado does not license security companies at the state level. Authorization runs through city and county governments — Colorado has no statewide security regulator, so a firm in Denver operates under a municipal license where required (there is no statewide company license) and there is no single statewide registry to check. Ask exactly which authorization the provider holds and where it is registered — in a state with no central lookup, the company's own vetting, training and insurance carry more weight than any state floor.
Specific to Denver: Excise & Licenses requires the guard license before starting work (a signed Letter of Hire from a licensed private security employer is mandatory) and limits armed, endorsed guards to carrying no more than two firearms while performing security services; the armed endorsement requires 5 hrs classroom + 3 hrs live-fire, an 80% score, and yearly requalification.
Hiring an unlicensed company is a risk you carry. In Colorado, operating without a license is municipal ordinance violation (no state-level security-license statute exists to violate until hb25-1262 takes effect aug 1, 2026) (Denver Revised Municipal Code § 1-13 (general penalty); security-guard licensing under D.R.M.C. Ch. 42, Art. V). Because there is currently no statewide license requirement, there is no state penalty; in cities that do license (e.g., Denver), operating a security company or working as a guard without the required Excise & Licenses license is a city-code violation punishable under the general penalty by up to a $999 fine and/or up to 300 days in jail. Effective August 1, 2026, HB25-1262 creates statewide licensing through the Board of Private Security Services, adding state-level penalties for unlicensed operation.
Denver scores 24/100 on our Crime Index (grade F), which makes it safer than 4% of the 759 US cities we track. The index is built from FBI Crime Data Explorer reports for a population of 733,212.
Crime Index
Crime rates describe a city, not a specific address — the right level of coverage depends on your block, your hours and what you're protecting. Use the neighborhood breakdown to see how Denver varies internally before you scope a contract.
See the full Denver Crime Index and neighborhood breakdown1 providers below list private investigation in Denver. Ranking is based on verifiable signals, but the last checks are yours — and they are the ones that decide whether a contract holds up.
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