If you plan on majoring in criminology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #80 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Criminology Schools in Washington ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 293 degrees in criminology to qualified students.
Your choice of criminology school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Criminology School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminology Schools in Washington ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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 criminology degrees they offer, see the list below.
It is hard to beat Washington State University if you want to pursue a degree in criminology. Located in the distant town of Pullman, Wazzu is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #182 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Wazzu is a great university overall.
There were roughly 174 criminology students who graduated with this degree at Wazzu in the most recent data year.
Gonzaga University is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in criminology. Located in the city of Spokane, Gonzaga is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #195 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Gonzaga is a great university overall.
There were approximately 44 criminology students who graduated with this degree at Gonzaga in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the criminology program make about $38,028 in their early career salary.
It is difficult to beat Pacific Lutheran University if you want to pursue a degree in criminology. Located in the large suburb of Tacoma, PLU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 9th out of 50 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 7 criminology students who graduated with this degree at PLU in the most recent data year.
Eastern Washington University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in criminology. Located in the fringe town of Cheney, EWU is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 16th out of 50 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were about 68 criminology students who graduated with this degree at EWU in the most recent data year. After graduating, criminology degree recipients generally make about $40,228 in the first five years of their career.
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 criminology school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Criminology School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
