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2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

20 Colleges in Illinois
1,412 Bachelor's Degrees
$39,871 Avg Early-Career Salary
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 looked at 20 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,412 bachelor's degrees in criminal justice & corrections during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois The criminal justice bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our full 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.

More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools

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Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in Illinois

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections.

10 Top Illinois Schools for a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice

1
197 Annual Graduates
$40,898 Median Starting Salary
$25,394 Median Student Debt

Western Illinois University is a great option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career income of $40,898.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Western Illinois University

2
215 Annual Graduates
$34,551 Median Starting Salary
$18,299 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to check out University of Illinois at Chicago. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn around $34,551 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of Illinois at Chicago

3
93 Annual Graduates
$38,953 Median Starting Salary
$59,723 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to look into Loyola University Chicago. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminal justice program report average early career wages of $38,953.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Loyola University Chicago

4
176 Annual Graduates
$37,584 Median Starting Salary
$23,539 Median Student Debt

Illinois State University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Illinois State is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminal justice program report average early career income of $37,584.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Illinois State University

5
83 Annual Graduates
$39,279 Median Starting Salary
$18,204 Median Student Debt

SIUE is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Edwardsville.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn an average of $39,279 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

6
Aurora crest
Aurora University
Aurora, IL
76 Annual Graduates
$44,150 Median Starting Salary
$21,791 Median Student Debt

Aurora is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Aurora.

Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their bachelor's degree from Aurora University make $4,279 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Aurora University

7
Lewis crest
Lewis University
Romeoville, IL

Lewis is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Romeoville.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminal justice program report average early career earnings of $37,583.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Lewis University

8

Located in the remote town of Charleston, EIU is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminal justice program report average early career wages of $40,489.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Eastern Illinois University

9

Located in the city of Chicago, SXU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career income of $39,033.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Saint Xavier University

10

Roosevelt is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.

After graduating, criminal justice bachelor's recipients typically earn around $41,203 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Roosevelt University

Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Michigan 261 1,345
Ohio 252 1,426
Indiana 235 1,444
Wisconsin 213 502

View All Rankings >

One of 4 majors within the Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting area of study, Criminal Justice & Corrections has other similar majors worth exploring.

Criminal Justice Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Criminal Justice Studies 905
Criminal Justice 324
Criminal Justice and Corrections, General 133
Criminal Justice & Police Science 50

Related Major Annual Graduates
Security Science and Technology 53
Fire Protection 50
Other Homeland Security 5

Notes and References

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