Best Correctional Officer programs in Illinois, 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.
9 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 231 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,190 in Illinois across about 12,190 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Illinois that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
4 programs in Illinois that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Illinois (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 Illinois page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Correctionsmain feeder CIP 43.0102In Illinois → | 120 | 51.9% | 3 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, Generalmain feeder CIP 43.0100In Illinois → | 100 | 43.3% | 3 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 3 | Corrections and Criminal Justice, Othermain feeder CIP 43.0199In Illinois → | 10 | 4.3% | 2 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 4 | Juvenile Correctionsmain feeder CIP 43.0110In Illinois → | 1 | 0.4% | 1 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
Top 9 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 9 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southwestern Illinois College Belleville, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 105 | Corrections | — | 36% | — | — |
| 2 | Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 82 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | $38,953 | 73% | $33,454 | 82% |
| 3 | Eureka College Eureka, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | $37,886 | 42% | $22,446 | 85% |
| 4 | National Louis University Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | — | 30% | $18,904 | 95% |
| 5 | Rend Lake College Ina, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Corrections | — | 63% | — | — |
| 6 | Lewis University Romeoville, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Corrections and Criminal Justice, Other | $37,583 | 67% | $17,632 | 71% |
| 7 | Southeastern Illinois College Harrisburg, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Corrections | — | 55% | — | — |
| 8 | Taylor Business Institute Chicago, IL Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Corrections and Criminal Justice, Other | — | 59% | $14,572 | 91% |
| 9 | Kaskaskia College Centralia, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Juvenile Corrections | — | 49% | — | — |
All 9 schools in Illinois
Every school in Illinois 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwestern Illinois College | Belleville | Public | 105 | 1 |
| Loyola University Chicago | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 82 | 1 |
| Eureka College | Eureka | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| National Louis University | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| Rend Lake College | Ina | Public | 8 | 1 |
| Lewis University | Romeoville | Private not-for-profit | 7 | 1 |
| Southeastern Illinois College | Harrisburg | Public | 7 | 1 |
| Taylor Business Institute | Chicago | Private for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| Kaskaskia College | Centralia | Public | 1 | 1 |
What correctional officers and jailers earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $58,940. Illinois pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Illinois
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 Illinois
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 Illinois.
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 120 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 51.9% 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 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections. Together they graduate about 231 people a year in Illinois.
How much do correctional officers and jailers earn in Illinois?+
The median is $79,190 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 34.4% 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 Illinois?+
9 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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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