Federal Data · No Paid Rankings

Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Top criminal justice programs ranked by what their criminal justice graduates earn, plus completion rates, debt and actual cost. Federal data. No paid rankings.

355

Schools with criminal justice earnings data

856

Schools with criminal justice programs in dataset

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How We Rank Criminal Justice Schools

These rankings use what criminal justice bachelor's graduates earn, not the school-wide average. College Scorecard publishes earnings three years after graduation for each field of study. A school is ranked when it has a published figure for criminal justice and corrections and at least 25 graduates behind it. Each school is then scored on our 5-component composite using federal data: criminal justice graduate earnings (28%), graduation rate (25%), social mobility via Pell Grant share (20%), debt burden (15%), and net cost for low-income students (12%). Where a school has not reported one of these, that component is dropped and the remaining weights are rescaled rather than filled in with an estimate. A school with no net price on file for families earning up to $30,000 is scored on its overall average net price instead. Only 4-year non-profit schools with sufficient data qualify.

→Earnings: Median annual earnings of criminal justice bachelor's graduates three years after they graduate. Source: College Scorecard.
→Graduation rate: Full-time first-time students completing within 150% of normal time. Source: IPEDS.
→Net price: Average annual cost after all grants and scholarships. Source: IPEDS.
→Social mobility: Share of students receiving Pell Grants, a direct measure of access for low-income students. Source: IPEDS.
→Debt burden: Median federal loan debt at graduation. Source: College Scorecard.

Top 10 Criminal Justice Schools (2026)

Ranked by composite: criminal justice graduate earnings, graduation rate, social mobility, debt, affordability.

#	School	Accept	Net Price/yr	Grad Rate	Gradsin criminal justice	Earnings (3yr)criminal justice grads
1	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY	57.1%	$4,082	56%	1,454	$47,878
2	California State University-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	91.3%	$4,460	53%	367	$43,754
3	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA	90.5%	$7,064	70%	339	$41,909
4	San Jose State University San Jose, CA	84.6%	$13,892	69%	203	$52,073
5	California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA	94%	$10,110	56%	539	$49,278
6	California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA	93.7%	$5,231	55%	319	$42,264
7	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA	46.3%	$10,607	69%	286	$40,511
8	California State University-Stanislaus Turlock, CA	98.1%	$7,433	53%	179	$43,440
9	The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ	62.3%	$25,580	86%	63	$52,808
10	George Washington University Washington, DC	47.1%	$46,485	84%	63	$57,017

355 of 856 schools with Criminal Justice programs have published criminal justice graduate earnings and are ranked. Top 10 shown. Earnings are the median for criminal justice bachelor's graduates three years after graduation, and Grads is how many graduates that figure covers. Data: IPEDS + College Scorecard. Updated annually.

All 856 Colleges in the Dataset

The ranking above shows the top 10 by composite score. Every school in the full dataset is listed here so you can explore beyond the top results.

A

Abilene Christian University Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Adelphi University Adrian College Alabama A & M University Alabama State University Albany State University Albertus Magnus College Albizu University-Miami Albizu University-San Juan Alcorn State University Alfred University Alice Lloyd College Allen University Alvernia University American International College American University Anderson University Anderson University Andrew College Angelo State University Anna Maria College Appalachian State University Arcadia University Arizona State University Campus Immersion Arkansas Baptist College Arkansas State University Arkansas Tech University Asbury University Ashland University Assumption University Atlanta Metropolitan State College Auburn University at Montgomery Augusta University Aurora University Austin Peay State University Averett University Azusa Pacific University

B

C

D

Dakota Wesleyan University Dallas Baptist University Dallas Christian College Dalton State College Davenport University Dean College Defiance College Delaware Valley University DeSales University Dickinson State University Dillard University Doane University Dominican University New York Drexel University Drury University Drury University-College of Continuing Professional Studies

I

P

Q

Quincy University Quinnipiac University

S

Sacred Heart University Saginaw Valley State University Saint Ambrose University Saint Augustine's University Saint Cloud State University Saint Edward's University Saint Elizabeth University Saint Johns River State College Saint Joseph's College of Maine Saint Leo University Saint Louis University Saint Martin's University Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Saint Peter's University Saint Xavier University Salem College Salem State University Salve Regina University Sam Houston State University San Diego Christian College San Diego State University San Francisco State University San Jose State University Savannah State University Seattle University Seminole State College of Florida Seton Hall University Seton Hill University Shaw University Shenandoah University Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shorter University Siena Heights University Simpson College Sinte Gleska University Sitting Bull College Sonoma State University South Carolina State University Southeast Missouri State University Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern University Southern Arkansas University Main Campus Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern New Hampshire University Southern Oregon University Southern University and A & M College Southern University at New Orleans Southern Utah University Southwest Baptist University Southwest Minnesota State University Southwestern College Spalding University Spring Arbor University Springfield College St Petersburg College St Philip's College St. Andrews University St. Francis College St. John's University-New York St. Joseph's University-New York St. Mary's University St. Thomas Aquinas College St. Thomas University State College of Florida-Manatee-Sarasota State University of New York at Oswego State University of New York at Plattsburgh Stephen F Austin State University Stevenson University Stillman College Stockton University Suffolk University Sul Ross State University SUNY at Fredonia SUNY Brockport SUNY Buffalo State University SUNY College at Potsdam SUNY College of Technology at Alfred SUNY College of Technology at Canton SUNY College of Technology at Delhi SUNY Morrisville SUNY Oneonta

T

U

121

V

Valdosta State University Vincennes University Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia State University Virginia University of Lynchburg Virginia Wesleyan University Voorhees University

W

Walsh University Warner Pacific University Warner University Washburn University Washington State University Wayland Baptist University Wayne State College Wayne State University Waynesburg University Webber International University Weber State University Webster University West Chester University of Pennsylvania West Liberty University West Texas A & M University West Virginia State University West Virginia University West Virginia University Institute of Technology West Virginia Wesleyan College Western Carolina University Western Connecticut State University Western Illinois University Western Michigan University Western New England University Western New Mexico University Western Oregon University Westfield State University Wheeling University Wichita State University Widener University Wiley University William Carey University William Jessup University William Paterson University of New Jersey Wilmington College Wilmington University Wilson College Wingate University Winona State University Winston-Salem State University Wisconsin Lutheran College Woodbury University Worcester State University

X

Xavier University

Y

York College of Pennsylvania York University Youngstown State University

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