2025 Best Criminology Bachelor's Degree Schools
Criminology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #53 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 128 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminology Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 9,285 bachelor's degrees in criminology to qualified students.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Criminology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of criminology for getting your bachelor'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. 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 good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination 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.
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to criminology students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other criminology students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- 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 much debt criminology 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 criminology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminology 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 Criminology Bachelor's Degree Schools 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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Criminology in the United States
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for criminology students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Criminology
It is difficult to beat University of Maryland - College Park if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in criminology. Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a very large student population.
Criminology bachelor's degree recipients from University of Maryland - College Park receive an earnings boost of about $6,949 over the average income of criminology majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminology from University of Maryland - College Park
University of California - Irvine is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in criminology. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the criminology program earn around $34,522 in their early career salary.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminology from University of California - Irvine
University of Florida is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in criminology. UF is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville.
Soon after graduation, criminology bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $35,096 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminology from University of Florida
University of Pennsylvania is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in criminology. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.More information about a bachelor’s in criminology from University of Pennsylvania
Located in the large suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the criminology program earn an average of $35,968 in the first couple years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminology from University of Delaware
