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2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

19 Colleges in the Southwest Region
1,071 Master's Degrees
$51,991 Avg Early-Career Salary
Ranked #30 in popularity, criminal justice & corrections is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 19 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for criminal justice & corrections students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,071 master's degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Master's Degree

Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region The criminal justice master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for criminal justice & corrections students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Criminal Justice Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in the Southwest Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections.

10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Criminal Justice

1

It is difficult to beat Arizona State University - Skysong if you want to pursue a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Scottsdale.

Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at Arizona State University - Skysong make $13,286 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Arizona State University - Skysong

2

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to take a look at Sam Houston State University. SHSU is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Huntsville.

Master's students who receive their degree from the criminal justice program make about $51,544 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Sam Houston State University

3

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to look into University of Phoenix - Arizona. Located in the city of Phoenix, UOPX - Arizona is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the criminal justice program report average early career earnings of $49,871.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of Phoenix - Arizona

4
21 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to check out Texas Christian University. TCU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Fort Worth.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Texas Christian University

5

Grand Canyon University is a very large private for-profit university located in the large city of Phoenix.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the criminal justice program make about $50,294 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Grand Canyon University

6

Located in the large city of Houston, UH Downtown is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at University of Houston - Downtown earn $13,146 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of Houston - Downtown

7
Texas State crest
Texas State University
San Marcos, TX

Texas State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of San Marcos.

Soon after graduating, criminal justice master's recipients generally make an average of $47,760 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Texas State University

8

Texas A&M International University is a moderately-sized public university located in the large city of Laredo.

Soon after graduation, criminal justice master's recipients usually earn about $46,596 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Texas A&M International University

9

UNT is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Denton.

Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from University of North Texas make $2,885 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of North Texas

10

UT Rio Grande Valley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Edinburg.

Soon after graduating, criminal justice master's recipients usually earn about $37,728 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges by State

Explore the best criminal justice & corrections schools for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Texas 235 547
Arizona 180 474
Oklahoma 153 22
New Mexico 114 12

View All Rankings >

One of 4 majors within the Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting area of study, Criminal Justice & Corrections has other similar majors worth exploring.

Criminal Justice Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Criminal Justice Studies 491
Criminal Justice 482
Other Corrections & Criminal Justice 41
Securities Services Administration/Management 36
Criminal Justice and Corrections, General 7
Juvenile Corrections 7
Criminal Justice & Police Science 6
Corrections 1

Majors Similar to Criminal Justice

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security 362
Security Science and Technology 304
Fire Protection 6

Notes and References

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