Master's · earnings grade

Is a Criminal Justice and Corrections degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $45,715 two years after finishing, more than 28% of master's majors. Measured across 353 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

D

The verdict on the money

Financially it is a slower start than most majors at this level — worth planning your borrowing around.

Median earnings $45,715 2 years after finishing
Typical range $39,009–$52,289 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$6,195 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 6,816 353 programmes

Where a Criminal Justice and Corrections degree pays best US programmes ranked on their own graduates' median earnings two years out.

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Curry College cost & debt at this university → $110,937 $100,849 $105,249 19
2 University of Chicago cost & debt at this university → $99,684 $84,653 $91,550 12
3 George Washington University cost & debt at this university → $66,034 $78,612 $81,495 —
4 University of St Thomas $84,095 $75,204 $83,464 —
5 Western Illinois University cost & debt at this university → $44,893 $71,643 not published 30
6 University of Houston-Downtown cost & debt at this university → $56,980 $71,015 $78,852 52
7 Columbus State University cost & debt at this university → $65,327 $70,009 $66,828 46
8 Sam Houston State University cost & debt at this university → $50,710 $68,666 $62,801 117
9 The University of Texas at Dallas cost & debt at this university → $70,358 $64,990 not published —
10 Concordia University-Saint Paul $69,006 $64,990 $69,695 19
11 American Public University System cost & debt at this university → $61,938 $63,997 $59,809 190
12 Lewis University cost & debt at this university → not published $63,005 $68,491 30

What this figure does and does not tell you

It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median master's major in this dataset reports $54,713, so Criminal Justice and Corrections sits below the middle by $8,998.

Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".

There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.

Criminal Justice and Corrections at other levels

Bachelor's — $34,420 (C)

Majors that pay more at this level Closest first — useful if you are still choosing.

Political Science and Government — $46,283 Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General — $46,966 Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services — $47,846 Microbiological Sciences and Immunology — $48,432 Natural Resources Conservation and Research — $48,432 Special Education and Teaching — $48,685

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We may earn a commission if you take a loan through a provider here. It never changes the earnings figures on this page — those come from the US Department of Education.

Criminal Justice and Corrections: the questions people ask

How much do Criminal Justice and Corrections graduates earn?
The median master's graduate earns $45,715 two years after finishing, across 119 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $45,894.
Is a Criminal Justice and Corrections degree worth it?
Financially it is a slower start than most majors at this level — worth planning your borrowing around. The median graduate earns $6,195 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Criminal Justice and Corrections?
Half of US programmes report medians between $39,009 and $52,289. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Criminal Justice and Corrections each year?
About 6,816 students complete a master's in this field each year across 353 US programmes.
Does this include student debt?
No — and deliberately. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not debt, so any "debt by major" figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. Debt is published per institution, which is why our university pages carry it and this page does not.
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Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.