Is Criminal Justice a Good Major? Cost, Pay and Jobs
Whether criminal justice is a good major depends on the job you want. Probation work, a federal agency and the upper ranks of a police department all lean on a bachelor’s degree, and criminal justice is one way to earn it. If you want to patrol, a degree isn’t what gets you hired in most states, because BLS lists a high school diploma as the typical entry education for police officers. The median ranked bachelor’s program charges a resident $14,184 a year, and Scorecard puts median first-year earnings of its graduates at $37,640.
Is a Criminal Justice Degree Worth It? What It Costs and What Graduates Earn
Across the 745 ranked bachelor’s programs, a full-time year of in-state tuition and required fees has a median of $14,184. Four years at that price come to $56,736 before books, housing and financial aid. Among the top 15 programs on the best colleges ranking, the annual in-state price runs from $4,532 at Western Carolina University to $13,815 at George Mason University. Among the top 25 online programs, Columbia Southern University has the lowest annual price for a student from another state, $5,808.
| Degree level | Median tuition and fees, a year | Median graduation rate | Median earnings, one year out | Median federal loan debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associate degree | $4,853 | 33% | $33,206 | $12,000 |
| Bachelor’s degree | $14,184 | 49% | $37,640 | $24,403 |
| Master’s degree | $11,433 | $51,958 | $36,259 |
Tuition and fees are what each school reported to IPEDS for a full-time year in 2023-24, and the master’s row uses graduate tuition. IPEDS graduation rates describe first-time undergraduates, so a master’s program has none. Earnings are College Scorecard’s median for a program’s criminal justice and corrections graduates (federal field 43.01) who received federal aid and were working one year after finishing, and debt is the median federal loan debt of its completers. Each figure here is the median of the programs’ own medians, so it describes a typical program rather than a typical graduate.
Read the earnings against the job, not the major. They measure the first year after graduation, and what a criminal justice graduate earns depends on whether the job is a patrol officer’s, a probation officer’s or a federal agent’s.
Is Criminal Justice a Good Major for the Job You Want?
Of the seven jobs below, two typically take a bachelor’s degree to enter (probation officer and crime scene investigator), one requires one by its posting (FBI agent), and four take a high school diploma, two of them with work experience. The table shows which of these jobs make criminal justice a good major and which don’t. The degree field BLS names depends on the job: it names criminal justice for probation officers and natural sciences for forensic science technicians.
| Job | Typical entry education | Median pay, May 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Police Officer (SOC 33-3051) | High school diploma, no related work experience | $76,210 |
| Detective (SOC 33-3021) | High school diploma plus less than 5 years of related experience | $93,790 |
| Probation Officer (SOC 21-1092) | Bachelor’s degree | $66,270 |
| Correctional Officer (SOC 33-3012) | High school diploma | $58,940 |
| FBI Agent Pay is for detectives and criminal investigators (SOC 33-3021) | Bachelor’s degree or higher, required by the posting | $93,790 |
| Private Investigator (SOC 33-9021) | High school diploma plus less than 5 years of experience | $51,220 |
| Crime Scene Investigator (SOC 19-4092) Pay is for forensic science technicians (SOC 19-4092) | Bachelor’s degree | $72,060 |
Past the entry level, the degree matters again. For police officers BLS says, “Along with exam and performance scores, a bachelor’s degree may be required for advancement to positions of lieutenant or higher rank.” For probation officers it says a master’s degree in criminal justice, social work or psychology may be helpful for advancing to supervisory positions.
A degree is not a peace officer license, and the police degree guide gives each state’s rule. Forensic science technology is its own program in the federal classification (CIP 43.0106), and this site’s rankings don’t include it.
Is Criminal Justice a Hard Major?
How hard it is depends on the school, the format and how you study. The federal definition of the main program says it includes instruction in “criminal law and policy, police and correctional systems organization, the administration of justice and the judiciary, and public attitudes regarding criminal justice issues.”
One outcome that covers every program at a school is its graduation rate. The median school with a ranked bachelor’s program graduates 49% of its first-time, full-time students within 150% of normal time, which is six years for a four-year degree. The figure describes the whole school, not the major.
Is Criminal Justice a Good Major for You? Who It Fits
- It’s a good major if you want to be a probation officer. BLS says probation officers and correctional treatment specialists typically need a bachelor’s degree and that common fields of degree include criminal justice. Florida, North Carolina and Texas each require a bachelor’s degree for probation officers by state rule. The probation officer page has the path.
- It’s a good major for a federal law enforcement job, though not a required one. The FBI, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals and CBP each list a bachelor’s degree among their routes into the job. The Marshals and CBP accept it in any field, and criminal justice is one of the fields the Marshals list for the higher entry grade. The federal agencies’ rules are side by side.
- It’s a good major for moving up as a police officer or a correctional officer, not for getting hired. The typical entry education is a high school diploma, so a degree is a choice, not a gate. It helps later: a bachelor’s degree may be required to move up to lieutenant or higher.
- It’s not the good major for crime scene or laboratory work. The fields BLS names for forensic science technicians are physical science, biology and forensic science.
If none of those is the goal, weigh the price and the debt above. The criminology guide compares criminal justice with its closest neighbor, and the best colleges ranking orders the bachelor’s programs on cost, graduate earnings and four other factors.
Questions About Whether Criminal Justice Is a Good Major
Is Criminal Justice a Good Major?
Are Criminal Justice Degrees Worth It?
Is Criminal Justice a Hard Major?
Do Criminal Justice Majors Earn a Good Living?
Is a Master’s in Criminal Justice Worth It?
Sources for the Cost, Pay and Job Figures
- Awards, charges, completion and online enrollment: the Department of Education's IPEDS data: IPEDS completions and distance education, 2023-24; IPEDS tuition and fees and per-credit charges, 2023-24; IPEDS graduation rates; and IPEDS Outcome Measures and fall 2024 enrollment, from the 2024 provisional release. Programs are counted under the criminal justice codes in the federal CIP 43.01 series.
- Graduate earnings: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field-of-study data for Criminal Justice and Corrections (CIP 43.01).
- Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- Pay for Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists (SOC 21-1092): BLS OEWS occupation profile, May 2025.
- Entry education, advancement and degree fields: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, edition of August 27, 2026, for police and detectives, probation officers and forensic science technicians, read on October 7, 2026.
- Program definitions: NCES, Classification of Instructional Programs, 2020.