Forensic Nursing Degrees (2026 stats)

Last updated: April 29, 2026 Source: College Scorecard

TL;DR

Forensic Nursing maps to BLS occupations averaging about $147,028, with roughly 3,983,970 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $7,361; common paths include Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary and Nurse Anesthetists.

Key Statistics

$7,361
Median In-State Public Tuition
$34,090
Median Out-of-State Private Tuition
$147,028
Avg. Wage (related occupations)
3,983,970
Workers (related occupations)

Forensic Nursing: what the data shows

Common questions about forensic nursing degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.

What is a forensic nursing degree?

A Forensic Nursing program is classified under NCES CIP 51.3824 in the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing field family (51.38).

A program that prepares individuals to apply the law and forensic science to nursing practice and collaborate with other professionals for the care of victims and the prosecution of criminals. Includes instruction in advanced physical assessment, evidence collection and preservation, forensic anthropology, legal testimony, medicolegal investigation, pathophysiology, pathohistology, pharmacology, and violence prevention

Types of forensic nursing degrees and related programs

Other NCES program codes in the 51.38 family with pages on EDsmart Data:

How long does it take to get a forensic nursing degree?

Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3824 in our file:

  • 19 Master's (100.0% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's

Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.

What degree do you need?

For Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%).

O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.

What jobs can you get with a forensic nursing degree?

Our degree→occupation mapping links Forensic Nursing to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.

OccupationU.S. employmentMedian annual wage
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary74,250$79,940
Nurse Anesthetists50,350$223,210
Nurse Midwives8,280$128,790
Nurse Practitioners307,390$129,210
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse261,690$35,690
Registered Nurses3,282,010$93,600

See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.

Is a forensic nursing degree worth it?

College Scorecard national medians for the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing bachelor's program family: median debt $21,490, median earnings $88,910 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.29.

About 1.2% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.

Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $7,361 and median net price is $16,419.

We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.

Institutions

Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Forensic Nursing and the types of students that study this field.

Tuition Costs for Common Institutions

$7,361 Median In-State Public

$34,090 Median Out of State Private

Tuition costs for Forensic Nursing majors are, on average, $7,361 for in-state public colleges, and $34,090 for out of state private colleges.

Tuition costs comparison for Forensic Nursing programs.

Degrees Awarded Over Time

100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Forensic Nursing from 2015 to 2023.

Historical trend of degrees awarded in Forensic Nursing.

Top 5 Schools by Enrollment

# School State Enrollment
1 Southern New Hampshire University NH 163,164
2 Southern New Hampshire University NH 163,164
3 Southern New Hampshire University NH 163,164
4 Western Governors University UT 155,088
5 Western Governors University UT 155,088

Schools with the largest enrollment offering Forensic Nursing programs.

Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition

# School State Tuition
1 Antelope Valley Community College District CA $1,124
2 Woodland Community College CA $1,124
3 Yuba College CA $1,128
4 Yuba College CA $1,128
5 Compton College CA $1,142

Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Forensic Nursing programs.

Top 5 Lowest Net Price

# School State Net Price
1 College of the Sequoias CA $480
2 College of San Mateo CA $536
3 Wiregrass Georgia Technical College GA $614
4 Henry Ford College MI $660
5 North Florida College FL $804

Schools with the lowest average net price for Forensic Nursing programs.

Graduation Rates

Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.

Graduation/completion rates for Forensic Nursing programs across institutions.

Related specializations

Other NCES program codes in the 51.38 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.

Degree Levels (IPEDS)

Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3824 in the survey year used in our extract (19 total across levels below).

  • 19 Master's (100.0% of IPEDS total)

Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.

Careers & Jobs

Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.

Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $147,028. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Forensic Nursing graduates alone.

Related occupations (BLS OEWS)

Occupation Mean annual wage U.S. employment
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary$104,53674,250
Nurse Anesthetists$225,97950,350
Nurse Midwives$184,5128,280
Nurse Practitioners$177,897307,390
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse$39,570261,690
Registered Nurses$152,3613,282,010

Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.

Program outcomes (College Scorecard)

National medians across bachelor's programs in the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing CIP family (602 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Forensic Nursing graduate.

  • $21,490 median federal loan debt among completers
  • $88,910 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
  • 0.29 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
  • 1.2% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)

Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.

Employment

Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.

Yearly Income for Common Jobs

$147,028 Average Wage in Workforce

The average salary for Forensic Nursing majors is $147,028.

Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Forensic Nursing majors.

Occupations by Share

3,983,970 2023 Workforce

The number of Forensic Nursing graduates in the workforce has been growing.

Various jobs filled by those with a major in Forensic Nursing by share of the total number of graduates.

Diversity

Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Forensic Nursing in the United States.

Workforce Age

N/A Average Age in 2023

This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Forensic Nursing.

Age distribution for Forensic Nursing degree holders in the workforce.

Gender Distribution

21 Total Degrees Awarded

1 Male (4.76%)

20 Female (95.24%)

Gender distribution of Forensic Nursing degree recipients.

Race and Ethnicity Distribution

17 White (80.95%)

1 Hispanic or Latino (4.76%)

1 Black or African American (4.76%)

Racial and ethnic distribution of Forensic Nursing degree recipients.

Degrees Awarded

The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Forensic Nursing are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.

Distribution of degree types awarded in Forensic Nursing.

Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Forensic Nursing field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Required Skills

Forensic Nursing majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.

Rating of how necessary various skills are for Forensic Nursing majors.

Skills Bar Chart

This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.

Skill importance ratings for Forensic Nursing majors.

About

A program that prepares individuals to apply the law and forensic science to nursing practice and collaborate with other professionals for the care of victims and the prosecution of criminals. Includes instruction in advanced physical assessment, evidence collection and preservation, forensic anthropology, legal testimony, medicolegal investigation, pathophysiology, pathohistology, pharmacology, and violence prevention

In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Forensic Nursing.

CIP Code

51.3824 - Forensic Nursing

What the data shows

At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $21,490 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $88,910, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.29. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Forensic Nursing graduate.

Women earned 95.2% of 21 Forensic Nursing completions in the IPEDS file used here.

Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $147,028. The largest mapped role by headcount is Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary (74,250 U.S. jobs in OEWS).

Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $7,361 in-state at public colleges and $34,090 at private institutions for programs in this field.

Data Sources

This page uses data from the following sources:

  • College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
    • Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
    • Data years: 2015-2024
    • Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
    • Employment and wage data by occupation
    • Latest data: May 2024
    • Source: bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
    • Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
    • Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
    • Source: onetcenter.org
  • IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
    • Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
    • Data years: 2015-2024
    • Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
  • Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
    • Demographic and workforce data
    • Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
    • Source: census.gov/acs

Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.

Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.

Methodology

Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.

All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.