2025 Best Criminology Master's Degree Schools in California

a master's degree in criminology is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #130 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminology Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 93 master's degrees in criminology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other criminology students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• 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 criminology students go into to obtain their master'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 criminology related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminology students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Criminology Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Criminology Master's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminology in California

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for criminology students seeking a a master's degree.

Top California Schools for a Master's in Criminology

1

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

49 Annual Graduates

$61,062 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Irvine is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminology. UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.

Students who graduate with their master's from the criminology program report average early career income of $61,062.

More information about a master’s in criminology from University of California - Irvine

2

San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

16 Annual Graduates

San Diego State University is a great decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in criminology. SDSU is a fairly large public university located in the city of San Diego.More information about a master’s in criminology from San Diego State University

Best Criminology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Criminology Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	183	2
Nevada	105	4

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Rankings in Majors Related to Criminology

One of 0 majors within the <nil> area of study, Criminology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Criminology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Criminology	93

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.