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Best Criminal Justice Schools Near Lexington, KY (2026)
Updated September 6, 2026BLS dataCollege ScorecardOn this page
Lexington, Kentucky has 5 accredited schools offering criminal justice programs, with tuition ranging from $9,387 to $23,735 per year for indexed programs. Lexington has a population of about 312,495. In Kentucky, the top-earning criminal justice-related role is Judge or Magistrate at a median $150,650 annually (BLS, May 2025).
Closest Criminal Justice Schools to Lexington
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer criminal justice programs near Lexington, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Lexington city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
Graduation rate 30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
Average net price (lower is better) 20%
Retention rate 15%
Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Lexington.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
BOC
Ranked by BOC Score — U.S. Dept. of Education outcome data. Advertising never affects rankings.
Lexington is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY metro area (BLS area code 30460). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Kentucky statewide.
Occupation
Median Wage
Source
COL-Adjusted (US=100)
Attorney
$111,040
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$119,526
Judge or Magistrate
$150,650
KY statewide
$162,164
Police Supervisor
$96,140
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$103,488
Detective or Criminal Investigator
$84,900
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$91,389
Police or Sheriff’s Patrol Officer
$61,720
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$66,437
Correctional Officer
$51,510
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$55,447
Probation Officer
$59,610
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$64,166
Forensic Science Technician
$61,470
KY statewide
$66,168
Paralegal or Legal Assistant
$63,640
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$68,504
Information Security Analyst
$102,190
Lexington-Fayette, KY
$110,000
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
Lexington at a Glance
Metric
Value
Source
Regional Price Parity (US=100)
92.9 (below U.S. average)
BEA RPP 2024
Other Lexington-Area Cities With Criminal Justice Programs
How many accredited criminal justice schools are near Lexington, KY?
Our directory has 5 accredited schools offering criminal justice programs near Lexington. The closest is Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, KY (2.6 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Maysville Community and Technical College (53.6 miles). 5 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
What are the highest-paying criminal justice roles near Lexington?
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying criminal justice-related roles near Lexington are: Judge or Magistrate ($150,650), Attorney ($111,040), Information Security Analyst ($102,190). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Kentucky statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Should I look at programs in Nicholasville instead of Lexington?
Nicholasville, KY is 12.0 miles from Lexington and has its own set of local criminal justice programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
How do I verify a program is accredited?
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Data verified: September 6, 2026.
Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
