Colorado·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-1092

Best Probation Officer programs in Colorado, ranked by enrollment

Provide social services to assist in rehabilitation of law offenders in custody or on probation or parole.

8 schools in Colorado run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,260 people a year. The job pays a median of $71,680 in Colorado across about 2,540 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledProbation OfficerParole Officer (PO)Correctional CounselorJuvenile Probation OfficerCourt WorkerParole AgentPeople OfficerTruant Officer
Graduates / yr
1,260
in Colorado
Median pay · Colorado
$71,680
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
2,540
people employed
Schools
8
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
44%
across those schools
Median net price
$29,726
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Colorado that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in Colorado that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Colorado (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 Colorado page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 44.0701In Colorado
1,260
100.0%
8$37,264$26,140

Top 8 schools in Colorado

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 8 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of Denver
Denver, CO Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
556Social Work76%$29,72678%
2Metropolitan State University of Denver
Denver, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
293Social Work$44,01532%99%
3Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Fort Collins, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
170Social Work$38,13467%89%
4University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
126Social Work47%97%
5Colorado State University Pueblo
Pueblo, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
70Social Work$39,74240%95%
6Colorado Mesa University
Grand Junction, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
43Social Work$42,25441%82%
7Pikes Peak State College
Colorado Springs, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
1Social Work21%
8Pueblo Community College
Pueblo, CO Public · 1 feeder programs
1Social Work31%

All 8 schools in Colorado

Every school in Colorado 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.

All schools in Colorado that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of DenverDenverPrivate not-for-profit5561
Metropolitan State University of DenverDenverPublic2931
Colorado State University - Fort CollinsFort CollinsPublic1701
University of Colorado Colorado SpringsColorado SpringsPublic1261
Colorado State University PuebloPuebloPublic701
Colorado Mesa UniversityGrand JunctionPublic431
Pikes Peak State CollegeColorado SpringsPublic11
Pueblo Community CollegePuebloPublic11

What probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn in Colorado

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Colorado
$71,680
Mean annual
$73,490
Jobs in state
2,540
What the range looks like
10th pct$51,940Median$71,68090th pct$96,770
Versus the national median
+8.2%

U.S. median $66,270. Colorado pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.54×

Concentrated here: Colorado employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Colorado

Boulder, CO
$76,290median
110 jobs
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
$71,680median
1,040 jobs
Colorado Springs, CO
$71,680median
230 jobs
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
$69,590median
290 jobs
Grand Junction, CO
$65,090median
110 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+2.6%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
7,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
2,400
92,300 → 94,800
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

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 Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists page.

How to become a Probation Officer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Colorado

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 44.0701Social Work

Common questions

Answers for people weighing probation officers and correctional treatment specialists programs in Colorado.

What degree do you need to become a Probation Officer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Social Work, which awarded 1,260 degrees in Colorado in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Probation Officer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Social Work. Together they graduate about 1,260 people a year in Colorado.

How much do probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn in Colorado?+

The median is $71,680 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 8.2% above the U.S. median of $66,270. 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 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists growing?+

BLS projects a +2.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 7,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Colorado?+

8 institutions in Colorado reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Probation Officer, Parole Officer (PO), Correctional Counselor, Juvenile Probation Officer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-1092.

Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists in other statesNew YorkCaliforniaTexasMinnesotaIllinoisMichiganOhioKentucky
Programs in ColoradoSocial Work

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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