2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in Texas
62Colleges in Texas
9,252Criminal Justice Degrees Awarded
$40,755Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in criminal justice & corrections, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #7 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 62 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in Texas ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 9,252 degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections 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 & corrections 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 & Corrections Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in Texas ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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.
Best Schools for Criminal Justice & Corrections in Texas
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the criminal justice degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student who is interested in criminal justice & corrections needs to take a look at Sam Houston State University. Located in the town of Huntsville, SHSU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #480 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SHSU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 983 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at SHSU in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn about $39,180 in their early career salary.
Texas State University is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of San Marcos, Texas State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #396 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Texas State is a great university overall.
There were about 363 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at Texas State in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, criminal justice degree recipients generally earn an average of $36,117 in the first five years of their career.
Any student who is interested in criminal justice & corrections has to look into South Texas College. South Texas College is a very large public college located in the city of McAllen. A Best Colleges rank of #485 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means South Texas College is a great college overall.
There were approximately 359 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at South Texas College in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career earnings of $28,244.
Texas Christian University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Fort Worth, TCU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #112 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means TCU is a great university overall.
There were about 93 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at TCU in the most recent data year. After graduation, criminal justice degree recipients usually make an average of $34,556 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the medium-sized city of Denton, UNT is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #310 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UNT is a great university overall.
There were about 296 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at UNT in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, criminal justice degree recipients generally earn around $39,267 in their early careers.
Located in the distant town of Brenham, Blinn College is a public college with a fairly large student population. This college ranks 62nd out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were roughly 112 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at Blinn College in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, criminal justice degree recipients typically earn about $30,374 in their early careers.
Located in the city of Edinburg, UT Rio Grande Valley is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 30th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 633 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at UT Rio Grande Valley in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the criminal justice program report average early career income of $32,899.
Tarleton is a fairly large public university located in the town of Stephenville. This university ranks 48th out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 243 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at Tarleton in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at Tarleton State University earn $4,909 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UH Downtown is a fairly large public university located in the city of Houston. This university ranks 50th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 322 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at UH Downtown in the most recent year we have data available. Criminal Justice & Corrections degree recipients from University of Houston - Downtown earn a boost of about $3,738 above the average income of criminal justice & corrections majors.
Lamar Institute of Technology is a medium-sized public school located in the midsize city of Beaumont. A Best Colleges rank of #613 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Lamar Institute of Technology is a great school overall.
There were approximately 64 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at Lamar Institute of Technology in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the criminal justice & corrections program at Lamar Institute of Technology get $30,978 above the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of San Antonio, UTSA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #567 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UTSA is a great university overall.
There were roughly 251 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at UTSA in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the criminal justice program report average early career earnings of $36,490.
Located in the suburb of Alvin, Alvin is a public college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 66th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 46 criminal justice & corrections students who graduated with this degree at Alvin in the most recent year we have data available. Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their degree from Alvin Community College earn $27,042 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in Texas 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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections 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 & corrections schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
