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Merced, California has 3 accredited schools offering homeland security programs. Merced has a population of about 89,766. Median household income is $59,938 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 18.0% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In California, the top-earning homeland security-related role is Emergency Management Director at a median $129,910 annually (BLS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer homeland security programs near Merced, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Merced city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
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:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Merced. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all California schools on the California homeland security page.
Merced is part of the Merced, CA metro area (BLS area code 32900). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to California statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency Management Director | $129,910 | CA statewide | $132,157 |
| Detective and Criminal Investigator | $124,840 | CA statewide | $126,999 |
| Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officer | $82,540 | Merced, CA | $83,967 |
| Transportation Security Screener | $73,610 | CA statewide | $74,883 |
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.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 89,766 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $59,938 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 18.0% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 98.3 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 3 accredited schools offering homeland security programs near Merced. The closest is De Anza College in Cupertino, CA (86.1 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Merritt College (98.4 miles). 2 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying homeland security-related roles near Merced are: Emergency Management Director ($129,910), Detective and Criminal Investigator ($124,840), Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officer ($82,540). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with California statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Atwater, CA is 7.4 miles from Merced and has its own set of local homeland security programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Merced’s median household income of $59,938 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Merced while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and California public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
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.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Merced:
Data verified: July 30, 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.
Back to Best Online Homeland Security Programs in California (2026)
