Which Maryland criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Frostburg State reports the lowest median federal debt, $25,000, with first-year pay of $40,844.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Maryland?

The median across 8 Maryland criminal justice bachelor's programs is $41,106 in the first year after graduating and $60,453 five years after.

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

8 Maryland programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 8 of them also report federal debt.

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

8 programs report first-year pay
8 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 Maryland criminal justice bachelor's program pays its graduates $41,106 in their first year, $3,465 more than the national median. UMGC reports the highest first-year pay ($55,479), and Frostburg State the lowest median debt ($25,000).

Median first-year pay$41,106National $37,641

Median pay after 5 years$60,453National $53,142

Median federal debt$26,250National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings65%National 67%

All 8 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	UMGCAdelphi · public	$55,479	$68,673	$25,062	45%
2	University of BaltimoreBaltimore · public	$48,991	$63,341	$25,500	52%
3	Hood CollegeFrederick · private nonprofit	$41,764	Not reported	$25,500	61%
4	Bowie StateBowie · public	$41,367	$59,864	$29,750	72%
5	Frostburg StateFrostburg · public	$40,844	$64,259	$25,000	61%
6	Stevenson UniversityOwings Mills · private nonprofit	$38,745	$60,453	$27,000	70%
7	University of Maryland Eastern ShorePrincess Anne · public	$37,393	$47,903	$28,027	75%
8	Coppin StateBaltimore · public	$31,419	$51,571	$29,000	92%

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 8 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

$38,220

Median pay in Maryland. 27,670 people work in this job in Maryland. 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%: $33,700Top 10%: $64,320

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$77,970

Median pay in Maryland. 9,720 people work in this job in Maryland. 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%: $58,580Top 10%: $113,700

Compliance Officers

$84,720

Median pay in Maryland. 10,100 people work in this job in Maryland. 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%: $56,310Top 10%: $132,620

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$76,390

Median pay in Maryland. 4,710 people work in this job in Maryland. 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%: $41,240Top 10%: $105,570

Common questions

UMGC in Adelphi reports the highest median first-year pay, $55,479. Its median federal debt is $25,062.

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 Maryland 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