Online Criminal Justice Degrees: Careers, Programs, and Pay (2026)

Updated July 24, 2026 | TradeCareerPath Editorial Team

Quick answer: Criminal justice is one of the most established online bachelor’s degrees, and the standard credential for security workers, corrections officers, and veterans moving into probation, federal, and investigative careers. Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists carry a $66,270 BLS median, and most federal agent roles list the bachelor’s as a hard requirement.

What the Degree Unlocks

  • Probation and parole: a bachelor’s is the standard minimum for probation officer roles in nearly all states ($66,270 median, BLS OEWS May 2025).
  • Federal careers: FBI, DEA, ATF, HSI, and U.S. Marshals postings list a bachelor’s as the baseline; criminal justice is a common qualifying major.
  • Investigations and leadership: detective tracks and supervisory promotions in many departments weight or require degrees.
  • The counseling adjacency: corrections and recovery experience pairs with the substance abuse counselor ladder if rehabilitation is your lane.

What to Check Before Enrolling

  1. Institutional accreditation. The gate for federal hiring and graduate school; check it before anything else.
  2. Fully online is normal. Criminal justice has no lab component; 100% online delivery from accredited public universities is standard and affordable.
  3. Credit for academy and military training. Many programs award credit for POST academy hours, corrections training, and military service; veterans should also compare GI Bill terms.
  4. Internship pipelines. Programs with agency partnerships convert to jobs; ask where last year’s graduates landed.
  5. Match the concentration to the goal. Corrections, homeland security, forensics, and criminology concentrations lead different places; pick from the job posting backward.

Colleges Offering This Degree

How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention. Advertising plays no part.

This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by BOC Score with the highest at the top. 10 of them carry a score.

Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%

Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal about the institution rather than about this subject. Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.

#1

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL In-state option BOC Score 86.4
Tuition Contact school for pricing
Contact
Key stats
  • Completion rate: 84.3% (College Scorecard)
  • Programs offered: 13
  • Annual completions: 2581
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $66,924 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#2

San Jose State University

San Jose, CA In-state option BOC Score 86.3
Tuition Contact school for pricing
Contact
Key stats
  • Completion rate: 66.8% (College Scorecard)
  • Programs offered: 14
  • Annual completions: 719
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $89,614 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#3

California State University-Long Beach

Long Beach, CA In-state option BOC Score 86.2
Tuition $7,350 - $22,679
Contact
Key stats
  • Admission rate: 46.3%
  • Graduation rate: 69.3%
  • Programs offered: 17
  • Annual completions: 833
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $63,140 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#4

California State University-Fullerton

Fullerton, CA In-state option BOC Score 85.3
Tuition $7,470 - $20,070
Contact
Key stats
  • Admission rate: 90.5%
  • Graduation rate: 69.7%
  • Programs offered: 5
  • Annual completions: 716
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $63,753 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#5

University of Washington-Tacoma Campus

Tacoma, WA In-state option BOC Score 83.8
Tuition Contact school for pricing
Contact
Key stats
  • Completion rate: 62.8% (College Scorecard)
  • Programs offered: 7
  • Annual completions: 519
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $82,515 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#6

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA In-state option BOC Score 83.7
Tuition $8,728 - $27,780
Contact
Key stats
  • Admission rate: 36.2%
  • Graduation rate: 77.3%
  • Programs offered: 28
  • Annual completions: 1027
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $68,268 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#7

Indiana University-Bloomington

Bloomington, IN In-state option BOC Score 82.4
Tuition Contact school for pricing
Contact
Key stats
  • Completion rate: 80.7% (College Scorecard)
  • Programs offered: 21
  • Annual completions: 315
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $74,511 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#8

Florida International University

Miami, FL In-state option BOC Score 82.2
Tuition Contact school for pricing
Contact
Key stats
  • Completion rate: 74.2% (College Scorecard)
  • Programs offered: 23
  • Annual completions: 2714
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $62,192 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

#9

California State University-Sacramento

Sacramento, CA In-state option BOC Score 81.7
Tuition $8,018 - $22,945
Contact
Key stats
  • Admission rate: 94.0%
  • Graduation rate: 56.1%
  • Programs offered: 12
  • Annual completions: 875
  • Median graduate earnings, 4 yrs after completing (all majors, not a single program): $64,511 (College Scorecard)
  • Online programs available

Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard

Frequently Asked Questions

Is an online criminal justice degree respected by agencies?

Accredited online criminal justice degrees are accepted by state and federal agencies; what matters to hiring boards is the accreditation and your background investigation, not the delivery format.

Do probation officers really need a bachelor's?

In nearly all states, yes: BLS lists the bachelor's as the typical entry-level education for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists.

Degree and Program Guides

Criminal Justice Degree Programs by State

State pay, licensing and metro-level data for this degree. Wage and employment figures on every state page come from BLS OEWS, May 2025.

Alabama * Alaska * Arizona * Arkansas * California * Colorado * Connecticut * Delaware * District of Columbia * Florida * Georgia * Hawaii * Idaho * Illinois * Indiana * Iowa * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Maine * Maryland * Massachusetts * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * Montana * Nebraska * Nevada * New Hampshire * New Jersey * New Mexico * New York * North Carolina * North Dakota * Ohio * Oklahoma * Oregon * Pennsylvania * Rhode Island * South Carolina * South Dakota * Tennessee * Texas * Utah * Vermont * Virginia * Washington * West Virginia * Wisconsin * Wyoming

Sources

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook

About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.