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2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

There are about 552,699 students enrolled in Criminal Justice in the USA.

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popularity

Very Popular

Compared to national avg.

Diplomas received last year

113,735

Vs. National Avg.

619%

popularity Rank

#15

cost

Very Affordable

Compared to national avg.

Median degree cost

$17K

Vs. National Avg.

-31%

cost Rank

#358

salary

Low Paying

Compared to national avg.

Average Salary Two Years Out of School

$34K

Vs. National Avg.

-14%

salary Rank

#374

professors

Not Very Good

Compared to national avg.

Professor Rating

C+

Vs. National Avg.

-11%

professors Rank

#378

students

Not Very Diverse

Compared to national avg.

Diversity Rating

C+

Vs. National Avg.

-5%

students Rank

#342

SUMMARY

Majoring in Criminal Justice is a valuable choice and commonly a necessary first step for scholars aspiring to pursue a career as a litigation paralegal, a criminal justice lawyer, or a public safety officer. In fact, nationally, criminal justice is a very popular major choice, ranking as the 8th most popular area of study. Last year alone, there were 55,297 criminal justice diplomas received. In-state tuition for criminal justice at private colleges is, on average, 3 times more spendy than their public rivals.

With an impressive 1005 institutions offering criminal justice odds are that any colleges you are interested in will have an option for you. If you're hoping to surround yourself with other criminal justice students, consider universities in California which have the most undergrads admitted to criminal justice annually. More generally, the best region to get a degree in criminal justice is in the Southeast region with Florida State University, Liberty University, and American Public University System best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection of the top conference to major in criminal justice is the Conference USA with Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, and The University of Texas at El Paso representing the conference. From our comprehensive list of the best colleges, our belief is that the best university for criminal justice is Northeastern University.

The objectively 'best' school does not have to be the 'best' school for every student. There might be lots of facets to consider when deciding on institution. Things such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food would definitely modify one's decision on where to go to school. At Authority, we have weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which criminal justice university has the top campus, the answer is Northeastern University. If you are very interested in which college is home to the best campus, we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, professor reviews, government databases, and more so we can compare every major in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our well researched list for the schools with the best student life&nbsphere and, from that list, our choice for the university with the best student life for criminal justice is The College of New Jersey. Curious why? Keep scrolling to discover more about our top choices. Some of our decisions will probably surprise you.

If expense is a primary influence in your decision on where to go to college, you might consider avoiding George Washington University. George Washington University&nbspappears to be our most expensive school for criminal justice, at least for out of state enrollment. That being said, we have a list of the most expensive&nbspschools that could put the expense of George Washington University&nbspinto perspective. For more context, you may be interested to know that criminal justice is the 156th most expensive major in the US, with an average associated cost of $33,100. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for criminal justice nationally is Vermont with expenses at the primary three schools amounting to $27,984 at Castleton University, equalling $41,728 at Champlain College, and costs amounting to $41,728 at Norwich University. Even more broadly, the most expensive region for criminal justice is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Quinnipiac University with a cost of $46,790, Sacred Heart University with a cost of $42,800, and Northeastern University with a cost of $52,420.

Our cheapest region for criminal justice is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Colorado Technical University-Colorado Springs with a cost of $11,896, Aspen University with a cost of $3,600, and Colorado State University-Global Campus with a cost of $8,400. In better news, the most affordable college for criminal justice is CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Authority.org's full list of the most affordable colleges can be explored here.

In-state learners can expect to pay around $9,200 for a degree in criminal justice. That price swells by a lot to an average of $19,400 for the out-of-state public-school undergrad. On that note, our selection for the college constituting the best value for criminal justice: George Washington University. Through this link you will see our comprehensive list for the schools we see as being the best value&nbspoverall. That being said, this idea is based on out-of-state tuition costs. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.

Earnings for criminal justice majors can cover a wide range, but within two-years of leaving college students will typically make around $41,100. While there is a lot of variation in salary; highest paid earners can rake in up to $80,300. Even straight out of college, the minimum earning positions within the criminal justice field make $20,000, which could be worse. The highest earning grads for criminal justice have come from Northeastern University&nbspand if you want to find the universities with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.

The overall diversity of criminal justice stands high, being within the 81st percentile of majors nationally. The college with the highest composite diversity for criminal justice is George Washington University&nbspand here you can find our general list of the colleges which have the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of Criminal Justice ranks only within the 53rd percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, ranking in the 77th percentile. White collegians compose the largest share, 51%, of students studying criminal justice. Additionally, 55% of undergrads pursuing a criminal justice major are women.

The median rating for criminal justice's professors is 4.3 stars, a score which is 8% greater than the average score across every major; this is a fairly good score. If you are searching for the most popular criminal justice professor in the country, look no further than Douglas Klutz from The University of Alabama. It might come as a surprise, but the best rated professors for criminal justice from student rankings come from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. If we consider data other than simply rankings it becomes clear that the school possessing the best professors for criminal justice is Northeastern University. You can find more detail on our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, along with some of the best examples of professors in the U.S.

Finally, the most difficult college to get into for criminal justice is Northeastern University. While we think of this list more as a novelty, we have a general list for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, here at Authority we do hope you understand that looking at higher education with a lens only formed from superlatives can cause issues. We hope you look at some of our more nuanced pages on individual topics and read some of Authority's background pages on beneficial details to look for as you continue your school search.

Top 25 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Search for the best Criminal Justice colleges according to your filter parameters.

A−

Rating

#1 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

New York, NY | www.jjay.cuny.edu/

37%

Acceptance

19,553

Students

#467

Ranking

$15K

Tuition

B+

Rating

#2 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of Cincinnati-Main Campus

Cincinnati, OH | www.uc.edu/

76%

Acceptance

46,140

Students

#632

Ranking

$27K

Tuition

B+

Rating

#3 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of New Haven

West Haven, CT | www.newhaven.edu/

91%

Acceptance

7,587

Students

#700

Ranking

$42K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#4 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL | https://www.fsu.edu/

32%

Acceptance

47,836

Students

#138

Ranking

$19K

Tuition

A

Rating

#5 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of Central Florida

Orlando, FL | www.ucf.edu/

45%

Acceptance

81,082

Students

#200

Ranking

$22K

Tuition

A

Rating

#6 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Florida International University

Miami, FL | www.fiu.edu/

58%

Acceptance

73,970

Students

#364

Ranking

$19K

Tuition

B+

Rating

#7 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Union Institute & University

Cincinnati, OH | https://www.myunion.edu/

0%

Acceptance

1,253

Students

#651

Ranking

$16K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#8 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL | www.uchicago.edu/

7%

Acceptance

20,413

Students

#11

Ranking

$61K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#9 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Northeastern University

Boston, MA | www.northeastern.edu/

20%

Acceptance

30,003

Students

#45

Ranking

$55K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#10 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Boston University

Boston, MA | www.bu.edu/

20%

Acceptance

42,047

Students

#35

Ranking

$58K

Tuition

A

Rating

#11 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA | https://www2.gmu.edu/

89%

Acceptance

49,755

Students

#296

Ranking

$37K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#12 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA | www.sdsu.edu/

37%

Acceptance

38,336

Students

#154

Ranking

$20K

Tuition

A−

Rating

#13 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Arizona State University Digital Immersion

Scottsdale, AZ | www.asu.edu/

73%

Acceptance

69,608

Students

#509

Ranking

$11K

Tuition

A−

Rating

#14 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Lowell, MA | www.uml.edu/

75%

Acceptance

22,192

Students

#527

Ranking

$34K

Tuition

A−

Rating

#15 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Norwich University

Northfield, VT | www.norwich.edu/

74%

Acceptance

4,792

Students

#477

Ranking

$43K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#16 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA | www.usc.edu/

16%

Acceptance

52,376

Students

#28

Ranking

$60K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#17 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

American University

Washington, DC | www.american.edu/

39%

Acceptance

16,032

Students

#94

Ranking

$51K

Tuition

A

Rating

#18 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Arizona State University Campus Immersion

Tempe, AZ | www.asu.edu/

88%

Acceptance

82,880

Students

#332

Ranking

$29K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#19 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA | www.bc.edu/

26%

Acceptance

16,502

Students

#32

Ranking

$60K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#20 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

University of Virginia-Main Campus

Charlottesville, VA | https://www.virginia.edu/

23%

Acceptance

29,237

Students

#38

Ranking

$53K

Tuition

A−

Rating

#21 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Roger Williams University

Bristol, RI | https://www.rwu.edu/

86%

Acceptance

5,318

Students

#500

Ranking

$38K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#22 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

George Washington University

Washington, DC | https://www.gwu.edu/

43%

Acceptance

32,209

Students

#68

Ranking

$59K

Tuition

A−

Rating

#23 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

St. John's University-New York

Queens, NY | www.stjohns.edu/

75%

Acceptance

23,167

Students

#398

Ranking

$45K

Tuition

A

Rating

#24 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

Rutgers University-Newark

Newark, NJ | https://www.newark.rutgers.edu/

74%

Acceptance

15,633

Students

#326

Ranking

$31K

Tuition

A

Rating

#25 2023 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice

SUNY at Albany

Albany, NY | www.albany.edu/

57%

Acceptance

20,099

Students

#387

Ranking

$28K

Tuition

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