Best First-Line Supervisors of police officer programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of members of police.
140 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 11,708 people a year. The job pays a median of $163,960 in California across about 13,200 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.
9 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 | CIP 43.0103In California → | 7,013 | 59.9% | 109 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | CIP 43.0104In California → | 3,860 | 33.0% | 26 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 3 | CIP 43.0102In California → | 519 | 4.4% | 28 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 4 | CIP 43.0301In California → | 199 | 1.7% | 7 | $46,281 | $23,250 |
| 5 | CIP 43.0302In California → | 62 | 0.5% | 3 | $46,281 | $23,250 |
| 6 | CIP 43.0404In California → | 31 | 0.3% | 3 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 7 | CIP 43.0304In California → | 15 | 0.1% | 1 | $46,281 | $23,250 |
| 8 | Signal/Geospatial Intelligencemain feeder CIP 29.0203In California → | 7 | 0.1% | 2 | $56,755 | $24,878 |
| 9 | CIP 43.0100In California → | 2 | 0.0% | 1 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 43 of the 140 schools in this state.
All 140 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego State University | San Diego | Public | 554 | 2 |
| East Los Angeles College | Monterey Park | Public | 523 | 2 |
| California State University - Sacramento | Sacramento | Public | 473 | 1 |
| Santa Rosa Junior College | Santa Rosa | Public | 449 | 2 |
| California State University - Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Public | 357 | 1 |
| California State University - Northridge | Northridge | Public | 337 | 1 |
| California State University - Long Beach | Long Beach | Public | 302 | 1 |
| California State University - Fullerton | Fullerton | Public | 298 | 1 |
| National University | San Diego | Private not-for-profit | 294 | 2 |
| San Jose State University | San Jose | Public | 218 | 1 |
| California State University - San Bernardino | San Bernardino | Public | 217 | 1 |
| Moreno Valley College | Moreno Valley | Public | 217 | 3 |
| Imperial Valley College | Imperial | Public | 185 | 2 |
| California State University - Dominguez Hills | Carson | Public | 171 | 1 |
| California State University - Stanislaus | Turlock | Public | 170 | 1 |
What first-line supervisors of police and detectives earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $106,040. 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 First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives page.
How to become a First-Line Supervisors of police officer
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
- 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 19 majors mapped to First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives16 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 03.0208Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services
- 29.0203Signal/Geospatial Intelligence
- 43.0100Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- 43.0102Corrections
- 43.0103Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration
- 43.0104Criminal Justice/Safety Studies
- 43.0115Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management(no graduates reported)
- 43.0119Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations
- 43.0120Protective Services Operations
- 43.0122Maritime Law Enforcement(no graduates reported)
- 43.0123Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection(no graduates reported)
- 43.0301Homeland Security
- 43.0302Crisis/Emergency/Disaster Management
- 43.0303Critical Infrastructure Protection
- 43.0304Terrorism and Counterterrorism Operations
- 43.0401Security Science and Technology, General
- 43.0404Cybersecurity Defense Strategy/Policy
- 43.0407Geospatial Intelligence
- 43.0499Security Science and Technology, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing first-line supervisors of police and detectives programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a First-Line Supervisors of police 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 Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration, which awarded 7,013 degrees in California in 2024-25, 59.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a First-Line Supervisors of police officer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections, Homeland Security, Security Science and Technology, Intelligence. Together they graduate about 11,708 people a year in California.
How much do first-line supervisors of police and detectives earn in California?+
The median is $163,960 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 54.6% above the U.S. median of $106,040. 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 first-line supervisors of police and detectives growing?+
BLS projects a +2.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 10,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
140 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 9 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 first-line supervisors of police and detectives work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Lieutenant, Police Captain, Patrol Sergeant, Police Sergeant among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 33-1012.
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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