If you pursue a master's degree in criminal justice and corrections, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #30 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2023, College Factual analyzed 234 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 7,135 master's degrees in criminal justice and corrections to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of criminal justice and corrections for getting your master's degree school matters. 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 take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection 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.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminal justice and corrections students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of criminal justice and corrections students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for criminal justice and corrections to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice and corrections related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminal justice and corrections students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools
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 & Corrections Master's Degree Schools.
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Featured Criminal Justice & Corrections Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Gain the management, leadership, data analysis and budgeting skills you need to advance in the criminal justice field with this online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice and corrections. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat University of Chicago if you wish to pursue a master's degree in criminal justice and corrections. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from University of Chicago earn a boost of around $51,127 above the average income of criminal justice and corrections majors.
It's hard to beat Boston University if you want to pursue a master's degree in criminal justice and corrections. Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice and corrections degree program at Boston University earn $4,021 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice and corrections has to check out University of San Diego. Located in the city of San Diego, USD is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from University of San Diego receive an earnings boost of around $68,369 over the typical income of criminal justice and corrections majors.
American Public University System is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminal justice and corrections. American Military University is a fairly large private for-profit university located in the fringe town of Charles Town.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice and corrections degree program at American Public University System make $13,381 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UMass Lowell is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Lowell.
Those criminal justice and corrections students who get their master's degree from University of Massachusetts - Lowell receive $44,837 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.
Located in the large city of Boston, Northeastern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from Northeastern University receive an earnings boost of approximately $15,270 over the average income of criminal justice and corrections majors.
Located in the city of Seattle, Seattle U is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice and corrections program at Seattle University earn $7,039 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Scottsdale.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice and corrections program at Arizona State University - Skysong make $4,601 more than the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Salve Regina is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Newport.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice and corrections program at Salve Regina University make $8,929 above the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Lynchburg.
Those criminal justice and corrections students who get their master's degree from Liberty University earn $8,272 more than the average criminal justice graduate.
Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice and corrections degree program at George Mason University make $7,164 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UST MN is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Saint Paul.
Those criminal justice and corrections students who get their master's degree from University of St Thomas Minnesota earn $35,538 more than the standard criminal justice student.
SHSU is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Huntsville.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from Sam Houston State University get an earnings boost of around $2,153 above the typical earnings of criminal justice and corrections graduates.
Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those criminal justice and corrections students who get their master's degree from American University receive $4,236 more than the average criminal justice grad.
Here are some additional great schools for Criminal Justice & Corrections students that almost earned our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
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Your choice of criminal justice and corrections for getting your master's degree school matters. 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:
