Which Alabama criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

University of North Alabama reports the lowest median federal debt, $24,125, with first-year pay of $31,595.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Alabama?

The median across 11 Alabama criminal justice bachelor's programs is $34,459 in the first year after graduating and $48,105 five years after.

How many criminal justice bachelor's programs are in Alabama?

11 Alabama programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 11 of them also report federal debt.

Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) Programs in Alabama, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

11 programs report first-year pay
11 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and Corrections

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Alabama criminal justice bachelor's program pays its graduates $34,459 in their first year, $3,182 less than the national median. Columbia Southern University reports the highest first-year pay ($60,461), and University of North Alabama the lowest median debt ($24,125).

Median first-year pay$34,459National $37,641

Median pay after 5 years$48,105National $53,142

Median federal debt$27,779National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings76%National 67%

All 11 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Columbia Southern UniversityOrange Beach · private for-profit	$60,461	$61,453	$30,204	50%
2	Faulkner UniversityMontgomery · private nonprofit	$54,704	$46,550	$28,250	52%
3	Troy UniversityTroy · public	$41,780	$46,268	$25,000	60%
4	Auburn University at MontgomeryMontgomery · public	$38,710	$56,765	$25,635	66%
5	University of South AlabamaMobile · public	$36,216	$48,094	$29,026	80%
6	UABBirmingham · public	$34,459	$48,974	$27,307	79%
7	University of AlabamaTuscaloosa · public	$34,194	$55,350	$25,000	73%
8	Jacksonville StateJacksonville · public	$33,879	$48,116	$27,192	80%
9	Alabama StateMontgomery · public	$32,898	$40,621	$32,261	98%
10	Alabama A&M UniversityNormal · public	$31,682	$45,437	$32,500	103%
11	University of North AlabamaFlorence · public	$31,595	$48,367	$24,125	76%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama criminal justice program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Alabama medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 11 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to criminal justice, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Security Guards

$33,720

Median pay in Alabama. 15,210 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 156,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $23,110Top 10%: $45,640

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$51,270

Median pay in Alabama. 11,710 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $37,480Top 10%: $77,220

Compliance Officers

$72,990

Median pay in Alabama. 3,770 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $41,620Top 10%: $126,870

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$46,660

Median pay in Alabama. 4,220 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $37,780Top 10%: $72,490

Common questions

Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach reports the highest median first-year pay, $60,461. Its median federal debt is $30,204.

Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked557 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Alabama rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the criminal justice bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024