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Santa Maria, California is home to about 109,880 residents. Median household income is $84,617 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 15.1% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro area, the top-earning homeland security-related role is Detective and Criminal Investigator at a median $130,810 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer homeland security programs near Santa Maria, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Santa Maria 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 Santa Maria. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
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.
Santa Maria is part of the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro area (BLS area code 42200). 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 | $119,403 |
| Detective and Criminal Investigator | $130,810 | Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | $120,230 |
| Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officer | $120,900 | Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | $111,121 |
| Transportation Security Screener | $71,240 | Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | $65,478 |
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 | 109,880 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $84,617 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 15.1% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 108.8 (above U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying homeland security-related roles near Santa Maria are: Detective and Criminal Investigator ($130,810), Emergency Management Director ($129,910), Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officer ($120,900). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with California statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Arroyo Grande, CA is 15.4 miles from Santa Maria 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.
Santa Maria’s median household income of $84,617 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Santa Maria 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 Santa Maria:
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)
