Which California criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Fresno City College reports the lowest median federal debt, $6,187, with first-year pay of $29,467.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in California?

The median across 21 California criminal justice associate's programs is $30,325 in the first year after graduating and $46,648 five years after.

How many criminal justice associate's programs are in California?

21 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.

Criminal Justice (Associate's) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

21 programs report first-year pay
9 also report federal debt
Associate's in Criminal Justice and Corrections

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California criminal justice associate's program pays its graduates $30,325 in their first year, $3,025 less than the national median. Carrington College-Sacramento reports the highest first-year pay ($35,994), and Fresno City College the lowest median debt ($6,187).

Median first-year pay$30,325National $33,350

Median pay after 5 years$46,648National $45,011

Median federal debt$10,865National $12,524

Debt-to-earnings36%National 37%

All 21 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	Carrington College-SacramentoSacramento · private for-profit	$35,994	$41,940	$16,374	45%
2	Hartnell CollegeSalinas · public	$34,648	$37,575	Not reported	Not reported
3	Mt San Antonio CollegeWalnut · public	$33,692	$56,896	Not reported	Not reported
4	San Joaquin Valley College-VisaliaVisalia · private for-profit	$33,361	$44,717	$19,125	57%
5	College of the DesertPalm Desert · public	$32,482	$60,488	Not reported	Not reported
6	Mt San Jacinto Community College DistrictSan Jacinto · public	$31,764	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
7	Victor Valley CollegeVictorville · public	$31,600	$52,752	Not reported	Not reported
8	Sacramento City CollegeSacramento · public	$31,146	$58,913	$11,760	38%
9	Merced CollegeMerced · public	$31,050	$41,676	Not reported	Not reported
10	Southwestern College (California)Chula Vista · public	$30,983	$59,282	Not reported	Not reported
11	Lemoore CollegeLemoore · public	$30,325	$36,494	$7,182	24%
12	Coalinga CollegeCoalinga · public	$30,315	Not reported	$9,331	31%
13	Fresno City CollegeFresno · public	$29,467	$48,076	$6,187	21%
14	College of the SequoiasVisalia · public	$28,851	$42,479	Not reported	Not reported
15	Pasadena City CollegePasadena · public	$28,492	$39,073	Not reported	Not reported
16	Antelope Valley Community College DistrictLancaster · public	$28,211	$46,648	$9,970	35%
17	Modesto Junior CollegeModesto · public	$28,102	$49,543	Not reported	Not reported
18	Imperial Valley CollegeImperial · public	$27,313	$38,973	Not reported	Not reported
19	Riverside City CollegeRiverside · public	$25,824	$40,644	Not reported	Not reported
20	Institute of Technology (California)Clovis · private for-profit	$25,131	$31,881	$13,852	55%
21	San Diego Miramar CollegeSan Diego · public	$22,722	$40,895	$8,250	36%

12 programs report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Carrington College-Sacramento$35,994
Hartnell College$34,648
Mt San Antonio College$33,692
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia$33,361
College of the Desert$32,482

Lowest median debt

Fresno City College$6,187
Lemoore College$7,182
San Diego Miramar College$8,250
Coalinga College$9,331
Antelope Valley Community College District$9,970

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

$43,240

Median pay in California. 199,480 people work in this job in California. 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%: $36,010Top 10%: $57,880

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$118,880

Median pay in California. 65,940 people work in this job in California. 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%: $76,300Top 10%: $153,190

Compliance Officers

$96,980

Median pay in California. 49,880 people work in this job in California. 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%: $57,530Top 10%: $158,280

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$65,200

Median pay in California. 60,310 people work in this job in California. 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%: $45,360Top 10%: $103,050

Common questions

Carrington College-Sacramento in Sacramento reports the highest median first-year pay, $35,994. Its median federal debt is $16,374.

Criminal Justice (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked246 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in California, ranked20 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Certificate) programs in California, ranked11 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 California rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the criminal justice associate'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