2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in California
Ranked #7 in popularity,
criminal justice & corrections is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 22 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of criminal justice & corrections. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,780 bachelor's degrees in criminal justice & corrections during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to criminal justice & corrections students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of criminal justice & corrections students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
- 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.
- Student Debt - How much debt criminal justice & corrections students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for criminal justice & corrections students working on their bachelor's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Located in the suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public university with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, criminal justice bachelor's recipients typically make about $34,570 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from California State University - Fullerton
CSULB is a fairly large public university located in the city of Long Beach.
After graduating, criminal justice bachelor's recipients usually earn about $34,247 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from California State University - Long Beach
Located in the city of Chico, Chico State is a public university with a large student population.
Soon after graduating, criminal justice bachelor's recipients usually earn an average of $36,045 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from California State University - Chico
Located in the large suburb of Hayward, Cal State East Bay is a public university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at California State University - East Bay get $6,233 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from California State University - East Bay
Located in the city of San Diego, National University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections program at National University get $24,989 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from National University