Criminal Justice & Police Science

 

Types of Degrees Criminal Justice & Police Science Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many criminal justice & police science graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	8,197
Associate Degree	7,363
Bachelor’s Degree	2,819
Undergraduate Certificate	2,471

What Criminal Justice & Police Science Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to police science were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Police Science Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

Skills for Police Science Majors

A major in police science prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Abilities for Police Science Majors

A major in police science will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Criminal Justice & Police Science Major?

People with a police science degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Criminal Investigators and Special Agents	4.5%	$81,920
Immigration and Customs Inspectors	4.5%	$81,920
Police Detectives	4.5%	$81,920
Police Identification and Records Officers	4.5%	$81,920
Police Patrol Officers	7.0%	$61,380
Private Detectives and Investigators	10.6%	$50,090
Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs	7.0%	$61,380

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice & Police Science?

Roughly 45% of the graduates are women, and 55% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of police science majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	198
Black or African American	969
Hispanic or Latino	1,928
White	3,682
International Students	40
Other Races/Ethnicities	546

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Police Science, too. About 0.5% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Criminal Justice & Police Science Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Police Science majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $56,810 to $72,390 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Criminal Justice & Police Science

Some degrees associated with police science may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for police science careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	35.8%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	14.4%
Some College Courses	13.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	15.7%
Bachelor’s Degree	13.0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.7%
Master’s Degree	4.5%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.7%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.1%
Doctoral Degree	2.0%

Online Criminal Justice & Police Science Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	205	16
Certificate (2-4 Years)	5	0
Associate’s Degree	474	79
Bachelor’s Degree	4	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	11	3
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Criminal Justice & Police Science Worth It?

The median salary for a police science grad is $65,400 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 64% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $510,000 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Criminal Justice & Police Science

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to police science.

Major	Number of Grads
Criminal Justice Studies	46,895
Criminal Justice	31,754
Other Corrections & Criminal Justice	3,988
Corrections	3,042
Criminal Justice and Corrections, General	1,323
Securities Services Administration/Management	797
Security & Loss Prevention Services	685
Law Enforcement Investigation & Interviewing	277
Corrections Administration	143
Juvenile Corrections	97
Protective Services Operations	19
Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations	0

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.