Is a Criminology degree worth it?
Across 102 schools, graduates of Criminology earn a median $54,271 five years out on $23,250 of debt. Most go on to work as Police officers (8% of them, per Census ACS). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$54,271
Median debt
$23,250
Years to pay off
4.2
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
52%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+3.8%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
18.3%
$61,929 vs $50,609
Net price
$20,109/yr
Debt-test failures
3.3%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$7,005
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Criminology in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.