Best police officer programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment
Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances.
10 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 352 people a year. The job pays a median of $59,280 in Tennessee across about 15,630 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Tennessee that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
3 programs in Tennessee that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Tennessee (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 Tennessee page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 43.0107In Tennessee → | 340 | 96.6% | 6 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | CIP 43.0100In Tennessee → | 11 | 3.1% | 4 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 3 | CIP 43.0120In Tennessee → | 1 | 0.3% | 1 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
Top 10 schools in Tennessee
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 10 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walters State Community College Morristown, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 208 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $44,624 | 33% | — | — |
| 2 | Cleveland State Community College Cleveland, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 80 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $41,488 | 37% | — | — |
| 3 | South College Knoxville, TN Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 25 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | $24,095 | 42% | $20,346 | — |
| 4 | Dyersburg State Community College Dyersburg, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 14 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 34% | — | — |
| 5 | Nashville State Community College Nashville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 18% | — | — |
| 6 | Fisk University Nashville, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | — | 30% | $27,814 | 37% |
| 7 | Milligan University Milligan, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | — | 63% | $19,143 | 72% |
| 8 | Volunteer State Community College Gallatin, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Criminal Justice/Police Science | — | 28% | — | — |
| 9 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Hohenwald Hohenwald, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | — | 65% | — | — |
| 10 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology Crump Crump, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Criminal Justice and Corrections, General | — | 63% | — | — |
All 10 schools in Tennessee
Every school in Tennessee 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walters State Community College | Morristown | Public | 208 | 1 |
| Cleveland State Community College | Cleveland | Public | 80 | 1 |
| South College | Knoxville | Private for-profit | 25 | 2 |
| Dyersburg State Community College | Dyersburg | Public | 14 | 1 |
| Nashville State Community College | Nashville | Public | 11 | 1 |
| Fisk University | Nashville | Private not-for-profit | 5 | 1 |
| Milligan University | Milligan | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| Volunteer State Community College | Gallatin | Public | 3 | 1 |
| Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Hohenwald | Hohenwald | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Tennessee College of Applied Technology Crump | Crump | Public | 1 | 1 |
What police and sheriff's patrol officers earn in Tennessee
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $76,210. Tennessee pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Tennessee
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 Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers page.
How to become a police officer
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- 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 Tennessee
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 9 majors mapped to Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers7 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
- 43.0107Criminal Justice/Police Science
- 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
- 43.0122Maritime Law Enforcement(no graduates reported)
- 43.0402Criminalistics and Criminal Science
Common questions
Answers for people weighing police and sheriff's patrol officers programs in Tennessee.
What degree do you need to become a police 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 Criminal Justice/Police Science, which awarded 340 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 96.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a police officer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections. Together they graduate about 352 people a year in Tennessee.
How much do police and sheriff's patrol officers earn in Tennessee?+
The median is $59,280 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 22.2% below the U.S. median of $76,210. 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 police and sheriff's patrol officers growing?+
BLS projects a +3.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 53,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Tennessee?+
10 institutions in Tennessee reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 police and sheriff's patrol officers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Deputy, Special Agent, Deputy Sheriff, Patrol Officer, Police Officer, Customs Officer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 33-3051.
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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