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Ruston, Louisiana has 1 accredited school offering homeland security programs. Ruston has a population of about 22,224. Median household income is $32,765 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 42.9% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In Louisiana, the top-earning homeland security-related role is Emergency Management Director at a median $96,550 annually (BLS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer homeland security programs near Ruston, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Ruston 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 Ruston. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Louisiana schools on the Louisiana homeland security page.
| Occupation | Median Annual Wage (Louisiana, statewide) |
|---|---|
| Emergency Management Director | $96,550 |
| Detective and Criminal Investigator | $60,450 |
| Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officer | $48,380 |
| Transportation Security Screener | $63,130 |
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 | 22,224 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $32,765 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 42.9% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
Our directory has 1 accredited schools offering homeland security programs near Ruston. The closest is Northwestern State University of Louisiana in Natchitoches, LA (60.7 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Northwestern State University of Louisiana (60.7 miles). 1 of the highlighted schools is flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS May 2025 state wage data, the top-paying homeland security-related roles in Louisiana are: Emergency Management Director ($96,550), Transportation Security Screener ($63,130), Detective and Criminal Investigator ($60,450). Wages for Ruston workers will track these statewide medians, adjusted for local cost of living.
Monroe, LA is 32.6 miles from Ruston 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.
Ruston’s median household income of $32,765 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Ruston while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Louisiana 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 Ruston:
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 Louisiana (2026)
