Best Criminal Justice programs in North Carolina, ranked by enrollment
Teach courses in criminal justice, corrections, and law enforcement administration.
97 schools in North Carolina run programs that feed this job, graduating 4,200 people a year. The job pays a median of $63,020 in North Carolina across about 1,220 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in North Carolina that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
9 programs in North Carolina that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in North Carolina (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 North Carolina page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 43.0104In North Carolina → | 2,518 | 60.0% | 78 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | CIP 43.0107In North Carolina → | 675 | 16.1% | 30 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 3 | CIP 45.0401In North Carolina → | 421 | 10.0% | 7 | $37,366 | $25,000 |
| 4 | CIP 43.0103In North Carolina → | 296 | 7.0% | 14 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 5 | CIP 43.0406In North Carolina → | 180 | 4.3% | 17 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 6 | CIP 43.0403In North Carolina → | 60 | 1.4% | 5 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 7 | CIP 43.0399In North Carolina → | 46 | 1.1% | 1 | $46,281 | $23,250 |
| 8 | CIP 43.0100In North Carolina → | 2 | 0.0% | 1 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 9 | CIP 43.0404In North Carolina → | 2 | 0.0% | 1 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
Top 25 schools in North Carolina
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 47 of the 97 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Carolina University Greenville, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 198 | Criminology | — | 63% | — | 89% |
| 2 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 174 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $36,155 | 69% | — | 80% |
| 3 | Alamance Community College Graham, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 146 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | — | 39% | — | — |
| 4 | Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 135 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | — | 33% | — | — |
| 5 | North Carolina Central University Durham, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 127 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $33,829 | 42% | — | 87% |
| 6 | Fayetteville State University Fayetteville, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 124 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $29,016 | 38% | — | 82% |
| 7 | Appalachian State University Boone, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 123 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $35,796 | 75% | — | 90% |
| 8 | Cape Fear Community College Wilmington, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 121 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $52,282 | 34% | — | — |
| 9 | Fayetteville Technical Community College Fayetteville, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 120 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | — | 24% | — | — |
| 10 | University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 119 | Criminology | $34,443 | 71% | — | 64% |
| 11 | Western Carolina University Cullowhee, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 119 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $38,682 | 60% | — | 82% |
| 12 | University of North Carolina at Pembroke Pembroke, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 116 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $35,553 | 44% | — | 93% |
| 13 | North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 115 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $32,152 | 57% | — | 50% |
| 14 | Davidson - Davie Community College Thomasville, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 95 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $38,392 | 46% | — | — |
| 15 | Asheville - Buncombe Technical Community College Asheville, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 94 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | — | 40% | — | — |
| 16 | Wilkes Community College Wilkesboro, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 83 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $41,251 | 55% | — | — |
| 17 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 80 | Criminology | $35,076 | 85% | — | 42% |
| 18 | Richmond Community College Hamlet, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 77 | Homeland Security, Other | — | 46% | — | — |
| 19 | Gaston College Dallas, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 70 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $50,038 | 63% | — | — |
| 20 | Robeson Community College Lumberton, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 70 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 33% | — | — |
| 21 | Beaufort County Community College Washington, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 63 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | — | 48% | — | — |
| 22 | Isothermal Community College Spindale, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 58 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 55% | — | — |
| 23 | Wayne Community College Goldsboro, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 57 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $40,557 | 49% | — | — |
| 24 | Central Piedmont Community College Charlotte, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 55 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $44,616 | 31% | — | — |
| 25 | Forsyth Technical Community College Winston-Salem, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 55 | Criminal Justice/Safety Studies | $48,388 | 34% | — | — |
All 97 schools in North Carolina
Every school in North Carolina 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Carolina University | Greenville | Public | 198 | 1 |
| University of North Carolina at Charlotte | Charlotte | Public | 174 | 2 |
| Alamance Community College | Graham | Public | 146 | 2 |
| Wake Technical Community College | Raleigh | Public | 135 | 2 |
| North Carolina Central University | Durham | Public | 127 | 2 |
| Fayetteville State University | Fayetteville | Public | 124 | 2 |
| Appalachian State University | Boone | Public | 123 | 2 |
| Cape Fear Community College | Wilmington | Public | 121 | 3 |
| Fayetteville Technical Community College | Fayetteville | Public | 120 | 2 |
| University of North Carolina Wilmington | Wilmington | Public | 119 | 2 |
| Western Carolina University | Cullowhee | Public | 119 | 1 |
| University of North Carolina at Pembroke | Pembroke | Public | 116 | 1 |
| North Carolina A & T State University | Greensboro | Public | 115 | 1 |
| Davidson - Davie Community College | Thomasville | Public | 95 | 2 |
| Asheville - Buncombe Technical Community College | Asheville | Public | 94 | 2 |
What criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary earn in North Carolina
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $76,590. North Carolina pays below the national figure.
Concentrated here: North Carolina employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in North Carolina
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 Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary page.
How to become a Criminal Justice
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or 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 North Carolina
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 25 majors mapped to Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary21 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 03.0208Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services
- 43.0100Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- 43.0102Corrections
- 43.0103Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration
- 43.0104Criminal Justice/Safety Studies
- 43.0107Criminal Justice/Police Science
- 43.0109Security and Loss Prevention Services
- 43.0110Juvenile Corrections
- 43.0112Securities Services Administration/Management
- 43.0113Corrections Administration
- 43.0114Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- 43.0115Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Management(no graduates reported)
- 43.0119Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations
- 43.0120Protective Services Operations
- 43.0121Suspension and Debarment Investigation(no graduates reported)
- 43.0122Maritime Law Enforcement(no graduates reported)
- 43.0123Cultural/Archaelogical Resources Protection(no graduates reported)
- 43.0199Corrections and Criminal Justice, Other
- 43.0304Terrorism and Counterterrorism Operations
- 43.0399Homeland Security, Other
- 43.0401Security Science and Technology, General
- 43.0402Criminalistics and Criminal Science
- 43.0403Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism
- 43.0404Cybersecurity Defense Strategy/Policy
- 43.0405Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation
Common questions
Answers for people weighing criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary programs in North Carolina.
What degree do you need to become a Criminal Justice?+
Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Criminal Justice/Safety Studies, which awarded 2,518 degrees in North Carolina in 2024-25, 60.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Criminal Justice?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections, Criminology, Security Science and Technology, Homeland Security. Together they graduate about 4,200 people a year in North Carolina.
How much do criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary earn in North Carolina?+
The median is $63,020 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 17.7% below the U.S. median of $76,590. 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 criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a +2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 1,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in North Carolina?+
97 institutions in North Carolina 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 criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Criminal Justice Professor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1111.
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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