What Can You Do With a Criminology Degree? Jobs & Salaries (2026)

Key takeaway: Criminology is the study of why crime happens and what actually reduces it, and its graduates split between practitioner roles inside the justice system and research roles that analyze it from outside. The occupations tied to the major carry these national medians: sociologist ($106,030), detective and criminal investigator ($93,790), police and sheriff's patrol officer ($76,210), and probation officer and correctional treatment specialist ($66,270). Three of those four start with a bachelor's degree; the research track effectively requires a graduate degree.

Criminology and criminal justice get used interchangeably in casual conversation, but the difference matters when you are choosing a major. Criminal justice studies the machinery of the system: policing, courts, corrections, and how cases move through them. Criminology studies the behavior the system responds to, asking why offending clusters where it does, what interventions change outcomes, and how policy decisions ripple through communities. That framing shapes where graduates land. Some take the theory into the field as officers, investigators, and probation staff. Others take it into analysis, research, and policy work. Below are the occupations most directly connected to the degree, what the work involves, and what the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports each pays nationally.

Jobs you can get with a criminology degree

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians. A median is the midpoint of the wage distribution: half of workers in the occupation earn more, half earn less. Actual pay varies substantially by agency, jurisdiction, and seniority.

Detective and criminal investigator is the role most criminology students picture, and it is a legitimate destination. Investigators build cases: collecting and preserving evidence, interviewing witnesses and suspects, writing the documentation that has to survive a defense attorney’s reading, coordinating with prosecutors, and testifying at trial. In most municipal and county agencies this is a promotion from patrol rather than a direct hire, so the realistic path runs through several years in uniform first. Federal investigative agencies do hire directly, but they compete for a small number of slots and screen hard on background, physical standards, and, increasingly, analytical and language skills.

Police and sheriff’s patrol officer is the entry point into the field for a large share of graduates. Patrol work is responding to calls, conducting stops, de-escalating conflicts that other people have already lost control of, documenting everything in reports that carry legal weight, and appearing in court. Every agency requires academy training regardless of degree, and many will hire without a degree at all, which means the criminology credential is doing something other than gatekeeping. What it does is help at hiring in competitive agencies, qualify you for incentive pay where it exists, and position you for the investigative and supervisory promotions where the theory becomes directly useful.

Probation officer and correctional treatment specialist carries the lowest median on this list at $66,270, and it is also the role where criminology coursework maps most directly onto daily work. You supervise people serving community sentences or on parole, assess their risk of reoffending, connect them to treatment and employment services, monitor compliance, and report back to the court when someone fails to meet conditions. Caseloads are heavy and the job requires holding two things at once: genuine belief that people can change, and clear-eyed judgment about when they are not. A bachelor’s degree is the standard requirement here, and criminology is among the most commonly accepted majors.

Sociologist carries the highest median at $106,030 and is the research end of the field. Sociologists design and run studies on social behavior, including criminal behavior and the institutions that respond to it, analyze data, publish findings, and advise governments, nonprofits, and research organizations. Be clear-eyed about the entry requirement: this is not a bachelor’s-level occupation. Research positions expect a master’s at minimum, and the tenure-track and senior research roles expect a doctorate. The high median reflects a small, heavily credentialed workforce, not an accessible next step after undergraduate study.

What the degree level changes

The three practitioner occupations above are bachelor’s-level entry points. An online bachelor’s in criminology satisfies the education requirement for probation and correctional treatment work, meets or exceeds what nearly every police agency asks for, and positions you for the investigative promotions that follow patrol experience. It does not replace academy training, background investigation, physical fitness standards, or the psychological screening that law enforcement agencies require; those are separate hurdles that no degree exempts you from.

The research track is different, and this is where students most often misread the field. The sociologist occupation on the table above is a graduate-credentialed profession. A master’s in criminology opens applied research, crime analysis, and policy analysis roles, along with administrative and command positions in agencies that prefer graduate education for leadership. A doctorate is the practical requirement for university faculty positions and for principal-investigator roles at research institutes. If your goal is to study crime rather than respond to it, plan on graduate school as part of the path rather than an optional extra.

One more honest note on credentials: criminology is not a licensed profession the way counseling, clinical social work, or law are. There is no criminology board exam. The gatekeeping in this field comes from employers, from agency hiring standards, and from academic credentialing on the research side, not from a state license.

Common questions

What jobs can you get with a criminology degree?

The occupations most directly tied to the major are detective and criminal investigator, police and sheriff’s patrol officer, probation officer and correctional treatment specialist, and sociologist. The first three are practitioner roles inside the justice system entered with a bachelor’s degree; the fourth is a research occupation that requires graduate credentials.

How much do criminology majors make?

Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 OEWS national medians for the occupations tied to this major: sociologists earn a median of $106,030, detectives and criminal investigators $93,790, police and sheriff’s patrol officers $76,210, and probation officers and correctional treatment specialists $66,270. Public-sector pay in these roles is usually set by published salary schedules, so your agency and jurisdiction matter more than in most fields.

What is the difference between criminology and criminal justice?

Criminology studies the causes and patterns of criminal behavior and what interventions reduce it, drawing on sociology, psychology, and statistics. Criminal justice studies the system that responds to crime, covering policing, courts, and corrections and how cases move through them. The two majors overlap heavily in coursework, and most employers treat them as interchangeable for hiring purposes.

Do you need a master’s in criminology?

Not for the practitioner roles. Police, investigative, and probation positions are entered with a bachelor’s degree plus agency training. A master’s becomes necessary if you want to work as a researcher or analyst, and a doctorate is the practical requirement for university faculty and senior research positions, since the sociologist occupation is a graduate-credentialed profession.

Is a criminology degree worth it?

The answer turns on which of the two tracks you want, since the practitioner path can be entered with a bachelor’s while the research path commits you to graduate school before the higher-paying roles open up. Work through the cost side of that on the is a criminology degree worth it page.

Keep exploring

• Start at the online criminology degree hub, then compare levels: bachelor’s and master’s.
• Find programs near you on the criminology programs by state index.
• Weigh the decision on the is a criminology degree worth it page, or compare tuition on affordable criminology programs.
• Consider related fields: criminal justice, forensic science, and crime analysis.

Data verified: August 12, 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.

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