Quick answer:58 colleges within 100 miles of Gaffney, South Carolina award a public safety degree, the nearest about 1 mile away (IPEDS Completions, 2024).
Compare public safety programs you can start from Gaffney:
Public Safety Program Access Near Gaffney, South Carolina
Distance from Gaffney
Colleges awarding this degree
Within 25 miles
6
Within 50 miles
19
Within 100 miles
58
Within 250 miles
225
Source: IPEDS Completions, 2024, counting institutions that reported awarding this degree, joined to IPEDS institution coordinates. Distances are straight-line.
Gaffney sits inside a dense cluster: 6 colleges within 25 miles award this degree, and 58 within 100 miles. Commuting to class is realistic here, which matters if you want the campus lab time rather than a fully online program.
Choosing A Public Safety Program From Gaffney
The subject matter does not change by location: criminal law and procedure, emergency and incident management, investigation, public administration, and policy and civil liability. What changes is how you take it. Ask each college whether the program holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor, how much of the coursework is delivered online, and which components require you on campus. Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Colleges Near Gaffney
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools
within 54 miles, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
9 of them carry a score.
1 does not have enough federal
outcome data to score, and appears last rather than being hidden.
LOCAL RANK
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.
What Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers Earn in South Carolina
Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers in South Carolina earn a median $58,070 per year against $76,210 nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The South Carolina median for police and sheriff’s patrol officers is $58,070 per year, below the national median of $76,210, on state employment of 12,930 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
These are statewide figures. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish wages at city level, so no page can tell you what this job pays in Gaffney specifically. For the metro-level picture where it is published, and the full percentile spread, see the South Carolina page.
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - institutions awarding this degree, with IPEDS institution coordinates
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers (SOC 33-3051)
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/.
