Law & Public
What you can do with Criminology
Why crime happens and how the justice system responds. Leads to investigation, law enforcement and policy.
- Careers
- 2
- Early career
- $50,000
- Mid-career
- $80,000
- Growing fast
- 0 of 2
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 2 careers a Criminology degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
The New York Fed does not report Criminology on its own. Its early and mid-career figures here are for Criminal Justice, the broader group it places this major in.
0 of 2 careers this degree leads to are projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034.
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2 careers this degree leads to
Detective / Criminal Investigator
$93,790Investigate crimes: gather evidence, interview witnesses, and build the cases that solve them.
- Middle half of workers
- $69,330 to $120,520
- Growth
- Declining
- Openings a year
- 7,800
Work-life57Remote1- Investigation
- Interviewing
- Evidence Handling
- Critical Thinking
Criminal Justice / Law Enforcement
$76,210Maintain law and order, prevent crime, and protect communities.
- Middle half of workers
- $59,290 to $97,600
- Growth
- About average
- Openings a year
- 53,700
Work-life32Remote5Satisfaction62- Law Enforcement
- Critical Thinking
- Communication
- Problem Solving
Related majors
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Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.