Best Detective programs in Wisconsin, ranked by enrollment
Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve.
18 schools in Wisconsin run programs that feed this job, graduating 773 people a year. The job pays a median of $91,040 in Wisconsin across about 1,640 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Wisconsin that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
3 programs in Wisconsin that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Wisconsin (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 Wisconsin page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 43.0107In Wisconsin → | 709 | 91.7% | 15 | $37,408 | $24,069 |
| 2 | CIP 43.0403In Wisconsin → | 39 | 5.0% | 2 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 3 | CIP 03.0208In Wisconsin → | 25 | 3.2% | 1 | $37,946 | $24,125 |
Top 18 schools in Wisconsin
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 14 of the 18 schools in this state.
All 18 schools in Wisconsin
Every school in Wisconsin 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Valley Technical College | Appleton | Public | 126 | 1 |
| Chippewa Valley Technical College | Eau Claire | Public | 82 | 1 |
| Madison Area Technical College | Madison | Public | 77 | 1 |
| Gateway Technical College | Kenosha | Public | 72 | 1 |
| Northeast Wisconsin Technical College | Green Bay | Public | 58 | 1 |
| Waukesha County Technical College | Pewaukee | Public | 57 | 1 |
| Mid - State Technical College | Wisconsin Rapids | Public | 46 | 1 |
| Blackhawk Technical College | Janesville | Public | 41 | 1 |
| University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee | Milwaukee | Public | 38 | 1 |
| Western Technical College | La Crosse | Public | 38 | 1 |
| Lakeshore Technical College | Cleveland | Public | 32 | 1 |
| Southwest Wisconsin Technical College | Fennimore | Public | 27 | 1 |
| University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point | Stevens Point | Public | 25 | 1 |
| Northwood Technical College | Rice Lake | Public | 23 | 1 |
| Northcentral Technical College | Wausau | Public | 21 | 1 |
What detectives and criminal investigators earn in Wisconsin
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $93,790. Wisconsin pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin.
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 709 degrees in Wisconsin in 2024-25, 91.7% 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 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections, Security Science and Technology, Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy. Together they graduate about 773 people a year in Wisconsin.
How much do detectives and criminal investigators earn in Wisconsin?+
The median is $91,040 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.9% 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 Wisconsin?+
18 institutions in Wisconsin 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 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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