2025 Best Criminal Justice Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region
12
Colleges in the Plains States Region
566
Bachelor's Degrees
Ranked #28 in popularity,
criminal justice is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 12 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 566 bachelor's degrees in criminal justice to qualified students.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Criminal Justice School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of criminal justice for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminal justice students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other criminal justice students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for criminal justice students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Criminal Justice Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list to help you make the college decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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Featured Criminal Justice Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.