Best Detective programs in Florida, ranked by enrollment
Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve.
46 schools in Florida run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,838 people a year. The job pays a median of $77,060 in Florida across about 6,440 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Florida that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
5 programs in Florida that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Florida (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 Florida page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 43.0107In Florida → | 2,462 | 86.8% | 40 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | CIP 43.0402In Florida → | 186 | 6.6% | 3 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 3 | CIP 43.0403In Florida → | 105 | 3.7% | 7 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 4 | CIP 43.0408In Florida → | 44 | 1.6% | 1 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 5 | CIP 43.0114In Florida → | 41 | 1.4% | 1 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
Top 25 schools in Florida
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 29 of the 46 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broward College Fort Lauderdale, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 180 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $34,607 | 39% | — | — |
| 2 | Valencia College Orlando, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 165 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $33,246 | 48% | — | — |
| 3 | Fort Myers Technical College Fort Myers, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 146 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $58,949 | 81% | — | — |
| 4 | Polk State College Winter Haven, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 146 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $53,333 | 35% | — | — |
| 5 | Miami Dade College Miami, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 134 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $34,209 | 46% | — | — |
| 6 | Florida State University Tallahassee, FL Public · 3 feeder programs | 126 | Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis | $58,249 | 86% | — | 24% |
| 7 | Lake Technical College Eustis, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 121 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $45,472 | 47% | — | — |
| 8 | Tallahassee State College Tallahassee, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 120 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $43,235 | 38% | — | — |
| 9 | Seminole State College of Florida Sanford, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 114 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $36,589 | 41% | — | — |
| 10 | Indian River State College Fort Pierce, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 103 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $43,351 | 45% | — | — |
| 11 | Eastern Florida State College Melbourne, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 102 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $51,461 | 52% | — | — |
| 12 | College of Central Florida Ocala, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 98 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 44% | — | — |
| 13 | Palm Beach State College Lake Worth, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 98 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $69,415 | 41% | — | — |
| 14 | Hillsborough College Tampa, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 94 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $62,249 | 34% | — | — |
| 15 | Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 85 | Criminalistics and Criminal Science | $28,173 | 57% | — | 63% |
| 16 | Saint Johns River State College Palatka, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 73 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 49% | — | — |
| 17 | St Petersburg College St. Petersburg, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 72 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 38% | — | — |
| 18 | Florida State College at Jacksonville Jacksonville, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 71 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $60,055 | 37% | — | — |
| 19 | Florida International University Miami, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 66 | Criminalistics and Criminal Science | — | 74% | — | 55% |
| 20 | The College of the Florida Keys Key West, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 64 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 34% | — | — |
| 21 | Withlacoochee Technical College Inverness, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 64 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $37,788 | 61% | — | — |
| 22 | Osceola Technical College Kissimmee, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 45 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $53,164 | 47% | — | — |
| 23 | Gulf Coast State College Panama City, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 42 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $45,648 | 43% | — | — |
| 24 | Wilton Simpson Technical College Brooksville, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 42 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 52% | — | — |
| 25 | Ana G. Mendez University Orlando, FL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 41 | Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing | — | — | — | — |
All 46 schools in Florida
Every school in Florida 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broward College | Fort Lauderdale | Public | 180 | 1 |
| Valencia College | Orlando | Public | 165 | 1 |
| Fort Myers Technical College | Fort Myers | Public | 146 | 1 |
| Polk State College | Winter Haven | Public | 146 | 1 |
| Miami Dade College | Miami | Public | 134 | 2 |
| Florida State University | Tallahassee | Public | 126 | 3 |
| Lake Technical College | Eustis | Public | 121 | 1 |
| Tallahassee State College | Tallahassee | Public | 120 | 1 |
| Seminole State College of Florida | Sanford | Public | 114 | 1 |
| Indian River State College | Fort Pierce | Public | 103 | 1 |
| Eastern Florida State College | Melbourne | Public | 102 | 1 |
| College of Central Florida | Ocala | Public | 98 | 1 |
| Palm Beach State College | Lake Worth | Public | 98 | 1 |
| Hillsborough College | Tampa | Public | 94 | 1 |
| Florida Gulf Coast University | Fort Myers | Public | 85 | 1 |
What detectives and criminal investigators earn in Florida
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $93,790. Florida pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Florida
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 Detectives and Criminal Investigators page.
How to become a Detective
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- 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
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Florida
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 14 majors mapped to Detectives and Criminal Investigators10 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
- 43.0107Criminal Justice/Police Science
- 43.0114Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- 43.0115Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management(no graduates reported)
- 43.0121Suspension and Debarment Investigation(no graduates reported)
- 43.0122Maritime Law Enforcement(no graduates reported)
- 43.0123Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection(no graduates reported)
- 43.0402Criminalistics and Criminal Science
- 43.0403Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism
- 43.0405Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation
- 43.0407Geospatial Intelligence
- 43.0408Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis
Common questions
Answers for people weighing detectives and criminal investigators programs in Florida.
What degree do you need to become a Detective?+
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/Police Science, which awarded 2,462 degrees in Florida in 2024-25, 86.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Detective?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections, Security Science and Technology. Together they graduate about 2,838 people a year in Florida.
How much do detectives and criminal investigators earn in Florida?+
The median is $77,060 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 17.8% below the U.S. median of $93,790. 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 detectives and criminal investigators growing?+
BLS projects a -0.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 7,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Florida?+
46 institutions in Florida reported graduates from at least one of the 5 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 detectives and criminal investigators work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Detective, Criminalist, Investigator, Special Agent, Forensic Specialist, Criminal Investigator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 33-3021.
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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