Criminal Justice Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Criminal Justice maps to BLS occupations averaging about $114,776, with roughly 63,690 workers nationwide in those roles. About 12,382 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; modeled 10-year ROI is about 501% on median net price.
Key Statistics
Criminal Justice: what the data shows
Common questions about criminal justice degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a criminal justice degree?
A Criminal Justice program is classified under NCES CIP 43.0103 in the Criminal Justice and Corrections field family (43.01).
A program that prepares individuals to apply theories and practices of organization management and criminal justice to the administration of public law enforcement agencies and operations. Includes instruction in law enforcement history and theory, operational command leadership, administration of public police organizations, labor relations, incident response strategies, legal and regulatory responsibilities, budgeting, public relations, and organizational leadership.
IPEDS counted 12,382 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of criminal justice degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 43.01 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Corrections (CIP 43.0102)
- Corrections Administration (CIP 43.0113)
- Criminal Justice - Law Enforcement Administration (CIP 43.0104)
- Criminal Justice - Police Science (CIP 43.0107)
- Criminalistics and Criminal Science (CIP 43.0111)
- Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations (CIP 43.0119)
- Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection (CIP 43.0123)
- Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism (CIP 43.0116)
- Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation (CIP 43.0117)
- Forensic Science and Technology (CIP 43.0106)
- Juvenile Corrections (CIP 43.0110)
- Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis (CIP 43.0118)
- Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing (CIP 43.0114)
- Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management (CIP 43.0115)
- Maritime Law Enforcement (CIP 43.0122)
- Protective Services Operations (CIP 43.0120)
- Securities Services Administration/Management (CIP 43.0112)
- Security and Loss Prevention Services (CIP 43.0109)
- Suspension and Debarment Investigation (CIP 43.0121)
How long does it take to get a criminal justice degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 43.0103 in our file:
- 8,605 Associate (36.5% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 12,382 Bachelor's (52.5% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 2,605 Master's (11.0% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 1 Doctorate (0.0% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in criminal justice?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, Active Learning, Critical Thinking, Coordination, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists (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%). Bachelor's awards account for a majority of IPEDS completions for CIP 43.0103, but occupation data show multiple pathways.
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a criminal justice degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Criminal Justice to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists | 86,820 | $64,520 |
| Correctional Officers and Jailers | 365,380 | $57,970 |
| Detectives and Criminal Investigators | — | — |
| First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | 153,130 | $105,980 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a criminal justice degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Criminal Justice and Corrections bachelor's program family: median debt $21,330, median earnings $55,378 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.57.
About 5.0% 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 $11,790 and median net price is $16,866.
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 Criminal Justice and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$11,790 Median In-State Public
$30,962 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Criminal Justice majors are, on average, $11,790 for in-state public colleges, and $30,962 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Criminal Justice programs.
Institutions awarding the most Criminal Justice degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice | NY | 1,432 |
| 2 | University of Phoenix-Arizona | AZ | 849 |
| 3 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | TX | 494 |
| 4 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion | AZ | 375 |
| 5 | Santa Rosa Junior College | CA | 367 |
| 6 | Utah Valley University | UT | 363 |
| 7 | Columbia Southern University | AL | 311 |
| 8 | East Los Angeles College | CA | 303 |
| 9 | University of Massachusetts-Lowell | MA | 300 |
| 10 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 277 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
12,382 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Criminal Justice from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Criminal Justice.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,398 |
| 2 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,099 |
| 3 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 54,926 |
| 4 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 44,617 |
| 5 | University of Arizona | AZ | 40,769 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Criminal Justice programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,126 |
| 2 | Lassen Community College | CA | $1,144 |
| 3 | College of the Redwoods | CA | $1,147 |
| 4 | San Diego City College | CA | $1,150 |
| 5 | Allan Hancock College | CA | $1,156 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Criminal Justice programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $29 |
| 2 | Central Carolina Community College | NC | $616 |
| 3 | Moorpark College | CA | $742 |
| 4 | Reedley College | CA | $1,584 |
| 5 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,697 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Criminal Justice programs.
Graduation Rates
48.09% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
48.14% Average Graduation Rate
1,153 Institutions Reporting
34.92% - 60.62% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Criminal Justice programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Criminal Justice is in NY (2,028 completions). That state represents about 16.4% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is PR (1.24% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| NY | 2,028 | 16.4% | 0.74% |
| AZ | 1,226 | 9.9% | 0.88% |
| TX | 831 | 6.7% | 0.28% |
| TN | 640 | 5.2% | 0.86% |
| PA | 631 | 5.1% | 0.37% |
| SC | 468 | 3.8% | 0.84% |
| MO | 403 | 3.2% | 0.56% |
| AL | 401 | 3.2% | 0.59% |
| MI | 388 | 3.1% | 0.34% |
| MA | 384 | 3.1% | 0.30% |
| PR | 368 | 3.0% | 1.24% |
| VA | 337 | 2.7% | 0.27% |
| KY | 319 | 2.6% | 0.62% |
| CA | 316 | 2.5% | 0.07% |
| NJ | 314 | 2.5% | 0.36% |
| CO | 294 | 2.4% | 0.41% |
| GA | 283 | 2.3% | 0.25% |
| NC | 262 | 2.1% | 0.21% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 43.01 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Corrections CIP 43.0102
- Corrections Administration CIP 43.0113
- Criminal Justice - Law Enforcement Administration CIP 43.0104
- Criminal Justice - Police Science CIP 43.0107
- Criminalistics and Criminal Science CIP 43.0111
- Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations CIP 43.0119
- Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection CIP 43.0123
- Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism CIP 43.0116
- Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation CIP 43.0117
- Forensic Science and Technology CIP 43.0106
- Juvenile Corrections CIP 43.0110
- Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis CIP 43.0118
- Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing CIP 43.0114
- Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management CIP 43.0115
- Maritime Law Enforcement CIP 43.0122
- Protective Services Operations CIP 43.0120
- Securities Services Administration/Management CIP 43.0112
- Security and Loss Prevention Services CIP 43.0109
- Suspension and Debarment Investigation CIP 43.0121
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 43.0103 in the survey year used in our extract (23,593 total across levels below).
- 8,605 Associate (36.5% of IPEDS total)
- 12,382 Bachelor's (52.5% of IPEDS total)
- 2,605 Master's (11.0% of IPEDS total)
- 1 Doctorate (0.0% 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 $114,776. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Criminal Justice graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists | $109,466 | 86,820 |
| Correctional Officers and Jailers | $94,071 | 365,380 |
| Detectives and Criminal Investigators | — | — |
| First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $167,192 | 153,130 |
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 Criminal Justice and Corrections CIP family (264 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Criminal Justice graduate.
- $21,330 median federal loan debt among completers
- $55,378 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.57 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 5.0% 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
$112,103 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Criminal Justice majors is $112,103.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Criminal Justice majors.
Occupations by Share
63,690 2023 Workforce
The number of Criminal Justice graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Criminal Justice by share of the total number of graduates.
Return on Investment & Value
Debt and earnings fields below come from College Scorecard where present in our degree extract.
Financial value (extract)
$13,532 Median Student Debt
$40,568 Median Annual Earnings (10 years after enrollment)
33.36% Debt-to-Earnings Ratio
3.3 years Estimated Payback Period (assuming 10% of income)
501.30% Return on Investment (10-year earnings vs 4-year cost)
Ten-year earnings in this extract exceed four years of median net price.
$67,466 Estimated Total Cost (4 years at median net price)
Financial value comparison for Criminal Justice degree.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Criminal Justice in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Criminal Justice.
Age distribution for Criminal Justice degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
12,382 Total Degrees Awarded
5,116 Male (41.32%)
7,266 Female (58.68%)
Gender distribution of Criminal Justice degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
5,338 White (43.11%)
3,308 Hispanic or Latino (26.72%)
2,187 Black or African American (17.66%)
404 Two or More Races (3.26%)
351 Asian (2.83%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Criminal Justice degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Criminal Justice are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Criminal Justice.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Criminal Justice field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Criminal Justice majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Criminal Justice 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 Criminal Justice majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to apply theories and practices of organization management and criminal justice to the administration of public law enforcement agencies and operations. Includes instruction in law enforcement history and theory, operational command leadership, administration of public police organizations, labor relations, incident response strategies, legal and regulatory responsibilities, budgeting, public relations, and organizational leadership.
In 2023, 12,382 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Criminal Justice.
CIP Code
43.0103 - Criminal Justice
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $21,330 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $55,378, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.57. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Criminal Justice graduate.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $114,776. The largest mapped role by headcount is Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists (86,820 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $11,790 in-state at public colleges and $30,962 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.