North Dakota·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-1092

Best Probation Officer programs in North Dakota, ranked by enrollment

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

5 schools in North Dakota run programs that feed this job, graduating 189 people a year. The job pays a median of $65,140 in North Dakota across about 250 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledProbation OfficerParole Officer (PO)Correctional CounselorJuvenile Probation OfficerCourt WorkerParole AgentPeople OfficerTruant Officer
Graduates / yr
189
in North Dakota
Median pay · North Dakota
$65,140
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
250
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
44%
across those schools
Median net price
$16,753
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in North Dakota that lead to this job

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

1 programs in North Dakota that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in North Dakota (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 Dakota page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1189
100.0%
5$37,264$26,140

Top 5 schools in North Dakota

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 5 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 North Dakota
Grand Forks, ND Public · 1 feeder programs
118Social Work$49,69560%77%
2Minot State University
Minot, ND Public · 1 feeder programs
37Social Work$44,73145%65%
3Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Fort Totten, ND Public · 1 feeder programs
18Social Work28%
4University of Mary
Bismarck, ND Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
14Social Work67%$16,75375%
5Sitting Bull College
Fort Yates, ND Public · 1 feeder programs
2Social Work22%

All 5 schools in North Dakota

Every school in North Dakota 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 North Dakota that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of North DakotaGrand ForksPublic1181
Minot State UniversityMinotPublic371
Cankdeska Cikana Community CollegeFort TottenPublic181
University of MaryBismarckPrivate not-for-profit141
Sitting Bull CollegeFort YatesPublic21

What probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn in North Dakota

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

Median annual in North Dakota
$65,140
Mean annual
$65,990
Jobs in state
250
What the range looks like
10th pct$51,200Median$65,14090th pct$80,330
Versus the national median
-1.7%

U.S. median $66,270. North Dakota pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.02×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in North Dakota

Fargo, ND-MN
$70,830median
70 jobs
Bismarck, ND
$67,460median
100 jobs
Grand Forks, ND-MN
$64,150median
40 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 North Dakota

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 North Dakota.

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 189 degrees in North Dakota 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 189 people a year in North Dakota.

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

The median is $65,140 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.7% below 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 North Dakota?+

5 institutions in North Dakota 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 North DakotaSocial 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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