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2025 Best Criminal Justice Schools in Tennessee

8 Colleges in Tennessee
759 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded
If you pursue a degree in criminal justice, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #27 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in Tennessee to determine which ones were the best for criminal justice students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 759 degrees in criminal justice annually.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Criminal Justice School

Best Criminal Justice Schools in Tennessee Your choice of criminal justice school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for criminal justice schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Pick Your Criminal Justice Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Criminal Justice
Master's Degrees in Criminal Justice

The criminal justice school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Criminal Justice Schools in Tennessee. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

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.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Criminal Justice in Tennessee

The schools below may not offer all types of criminal justice degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.

Top Tennessee Schools in Criminal Justice

1
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In TN
139 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

Every student who is interested in criminal justice has to take a look at Middle Tennessee State University. Middle Tennessee State University is a very large public university located in the city of Murfreesboro. A Best Colleges rank of #1036 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Middle Tennessee State University is a great university overall.

There were roughly 139 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at Middle Tennessee State University in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from Middle Tennessee State University

2
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In TN
92 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

Every student pursuing a degree in criminal justice needs to look into The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Located in the medium-sized city of Chattanooga, UT Chattanooga is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #959 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UT Chattanooga is a great university overall.

There were about 92 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at UT Chattanooga in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga

Sponsored
Bachelors Degree Type
BS in Criminal Justice - Criminology & Crime Analysis Program Name

Track and understand criminal behavior by earning a BS in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Criminology & Crime Analysis.

More information about a degree in BS in Criminal Justice - Criminology & Crime Analysis from Southern New Hampshire University
3
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In TN
113 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

Any student pursuing a degree in criminal justice needs to look into University of Memphis. UofM is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Memphis. A Best Colleges rank of #807 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UofM is a great university overall.

There were roughly 113 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at UofM in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from University of Memphis

4
Bethel crest
Bethel University
McKenzie, TN
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
7th Most Popular In TN

It is difficult to beat Bethel University if you wish to pursue a degree in criminal justice. Bethel is a small private not-for-profit university located in the town of McKenzie. This university ranks 24th out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.

There were about 14 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at Bethel in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from Bethel University

5
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In TN
95 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

Located in the city of Johnson City, ETSU is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #802 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means ETSU is a great university overall.

There were approximately 95 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at ETSU in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from East Tennessee State University

6
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In TN
92 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

Austin Peay State University is a medium-sized public university located in the medium-sized city of Clarksville. This university ranks 25th out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.

There were about 92 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at Austin Peay State University in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from Austin Peay State University

7
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
6th Most Popular In TN
53 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

Tennessee State University is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Nashville. This university ranks 29th out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.

There were approximately 53 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at Tennessee State University in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from Tennessee State University

8
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
8th Most Popular In TN
35 Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded

UT Martin is a medium-sized public university located in the remote town of Martin. This university ranks 32nd out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.

There were approximately 35 criminal justice students who graduated with this degree at UT Martin in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in criminal justice from The University of Tennessee - Martin

Best Criminal Justice Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Criminal Justice Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Florida 715 981
North Carolina 710 335
Georgia 690 455
Virginia 630 722
South Carolina 530 572
Kentucky 518 639
Mississippi 501 214
Alabama 500 381
Louisiana 489 24
Arkansas 466 114
West Virginia 410 41

View All Rankings >

One of 21 majors within the Criminal Justice & Corrections area of study, Criminal Justice has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Criminal Justice Studies 298
Criminal Justice & Police Science 284
Other Corrections & Criminal Justice 14
Protective Services Operations 6
Criminal Justice and Corrections, General 3

View All Criminal Justice Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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