Which Minnesota criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Alexandria Technical & Community College reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,000, with first-year pay of $46,511.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Minnesota?

The median across 11 Minnesota criminal justice associate's programs is $50,959 in the first year after graduating and $52,248 five years after.

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

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

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

11 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 Minnesota criminal justice associate's program pays its graduates $50,959 in their first year, $17,609 more than the national median. Minnesota North College reports the highest first-year pay ($54,328), and Alexandria Technical & Community College the lowest median debt ($12,000).

Median first-year pay$50,959National $33,350

Median pay after 5 years$52,248National $45,011

Median federal debt$17,516National $12,524

Debt-to-earnings36%National 37%

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	Minnesota North CollegeHibbing · public	$54,328	$62,955	Not reported	Not reported
2	Century College (Minnesota)White Bear Lake · public	$54,174	$49,722	$19,366	36%
3	North Hennepin Community CollegeBrooklyn Park · public	$53,797	$49,517	$30,250	56%
4	Inver Hills Community CollegeInver Grove Heights · public	$52,724	$56,206	$23,690	45%
5	Fond du Lac Tribal and Community CollegeCloquet · public	$51,144	$52,735	$15,665	31%
6	Minneapolis Community and Technical CollegeMinneapolis · public	$50,959	$45,292	$30,000	59%
7	Rochester Community and Technical CollegeRochester · public	$50,418	$52,390	$14,470	29%
8	Ridgewater CollegeWillmar · public	$49,040	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	Rasmussen UniversitySt. Cloud · private for-profit	$47,447	$49,266	$24,408	51%
10	Northland Community and Technical CollegeThief River Falls · public	$47,216	$52,248	$12,138	26%
11	Alexandria Technical & Community CollegeAlexandria · public	$46,511	$59,835	$12,000	26%

Minnesota North College and Ridgewater College 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 Minnesota criminal justice program

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

Minnesota North College$54,328
Century College (Minnesota)$54,174
North Hennepin Community College$53,797
Inver Hills Community College$52,724
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College$51,144

Lowest median debt

Alexandria Technical & Community College$12,000
Northland Community and Technical College$12,138
Rochester Community and Technical College$14,470
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College$15,665
Century College (Minnesota)$19,366

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

$43,380

Median pay in Minnesota. 14,440 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $33,760Top 10%: $65,090

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$83,360

Median pay in Minnesota. 9,160 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $60,670Top 10%: $106,160

Compliance Officers

$85,920

Median pay in Minnesota. 6,140 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $55,830Top 10%: $134,040

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$67,450

Median pay in Minnesota. 6,540 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $47,890Top 10%: $99,320

Common questions

Minnesota North College in Hibbing reports the highest median first-year pay, $54,328.

Criminal Justice (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked246 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in Minnesota, ranked12 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 Minnesota 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