Best Correctional Officer programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. May guard prisoners in transit between jail, courtroom, prison, or other point.
29 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 679 people a year. The job pays a median of $96,370 in California across about 37,860 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
3 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Correctionsmain feeder CIP 43.0102In California → | 519 | 76.4% | 28 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | Corrections and Criminal Justice, Othermain feeder CIP 43.0199In California → | 158 | 23.3% | 5 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 3 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, Generalmain feeder CIP 43.0100In California → | 2 | 0.3% | 1 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 10 of the 29 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moreno Valley College Moreno Valley, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 230 | Corrections | $81,339 | 34% | — | — |
| 2 | East Los Angeles College Monterey Park, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 202 | Corrections | — | 37% | — | — |
| 3 | Santa Rosa Junior College Santa Rosa, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 78 | Corrections | $111,649 | 37% | — | — |
| 4 | Lemoore College Lemoore, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Corrections | $30,325 | 49% | — | — |
| 5 | Fresno City College Fresno, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Corrections | $29,467 | 24% | — | — |
| 6 | Reedley College Reedley, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Corrections | — | 42% | — | — |
| 7 | Rio Hondo College Whittier, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 16 | Corrections and Criminal Justice, Other | — | 25% | — | — |
| 8 | Imperial Valley College Imperial, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Corrections | $27,313 | 45% | — | — |
| 9 | Solano Community College Fairfield, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Corrections | — | 36% | — | — |
| 10 | Santa Ana College Santa Ana, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Corrections | — | 31% | — | — |
| 11 | San Joaquin Delta College Stockton, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Corrections | — | 35% | — | — |
| 12 | Coalinga College Coalinga, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Corrections | $30,315 | 43% | — | — |
| 13 | Chaffey College Rancho Cucamonga, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Corrections | — | 36% | — | — |
| 14 | Madera Community College Madera, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Corrections | — | 35% | — | — |
| 15 | Barstow Community College Barstow, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Corrections | — | 39% | — | — |
| 16 | Citrus College Glendora, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Corrections | — | 41% | — | — |
| 17 | Grossmont College El Cajon, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Corrections | — | 37% | — | — |
| 18 | Southwestern College Chula Vista, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Corrections | $30,983 | 35% | — | — |
| 19 | Bakersfield College Bakersfield, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections | — | 21% | — | — |
| 20 | Clovis Community College Fresno, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections | — | 45% | — | — |
| 21 | College of the Sequoias Visalia, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections | $28,851 | 39% | — | — |
| 22 | Contra Costa College San Pablo, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections | — | 28% | — | — |
| 23 | Diablo Valley College Pleasant Hill, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections and Criminal Justice, Other | — | 49% | — | — |
| 24 | Merritt College Oakland, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections | — | 26% | — | — |
| 25 | San Bernardino Valley College San Bernardino, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Corrections | $94,285 | 28% | — | — |
All 29 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moreno Valley College | Moreno Valley | Public | 230 | 2 |
| East Los Angeles College | Monterey Park | Public | 202 | 2 |
| Santa Rosa Junior College | Santa Rosa | Public | 78 | 2 |
| Lemoore College | Lemoore | Public | 21 | 1 |
| Fresno City College | Fresno | Public | 16 | 1 |
| Reedley College | Reedley | Public | 16 | 1 |
| Rio Hondo College | Whittier | Public | 16 | 2 |
| Imperial Valley College | Imperial | Public | 12 | 1 |
| Solano Community College | Fairfield | Public | 12 | 1 |
| Santa Ana College | Santa Ana | Public | 10 | 1 |
| San Joaquin Delta College | Stockton | Public | 9 | 1 |
| Coalinga College | Coalinga | Public | 8 | 1 |
| Chaffey College | Rancho Cucamonga | Public | 7 | 1 |
| Madera Community College | Madera | Public | 6 | 1 |
| Barstow Community College | Barstow | Public | 5 | 1 |
What correctional officers and jailers earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $58,940. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Correctional Officers and Jailers page.
How to become a Correctional Officer
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 4 majors mapped to Correctional Officers and Jailers4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 43.0100Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- 43.0102Corrections
- 43.0110Juvenile Corrections
- 43.0199Corrections and Criminal Justice, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing correctional officers and jailers programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a Correctional Officer?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Corrections, which awarded 519 degrees in California in 2024-25, 76.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Correctional Officer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections. Together they graduate about 679 people a year in California.
How much do correctional officers and jailers earn in California?+
The median is $96,370 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 63.5% above the U.S. median of $58,940. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for correctional officers and jailers growing?+
BLS projects a -7.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 30,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
29 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do correctional officers and jailers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Jailer, Detention Officer, Correctional Officer, Corrections Officer (CO) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 33-3012.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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