Which Missouri criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Park University reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,299, with first-year pay of $49,305.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Missouri?

The median across 16 Missouri criminal justice bachelor's programs is $36,879 in the first year after graduating and $51,069 five years after.

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

16 Missouri programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 16 of them also report federal debt.

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

16 programs report first-year pay
16 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 Missouri criminal justice bachelor's program pays its graduates $36,879 in their first year, $762 less than the national median. Park University reports the highest first-year pay ($49,305), and Park University the lowest median debt ($18,299).

Median first-year pay$36,879National $37,641

Median pay after 5 years$51,069National $53,142

Median federal debt$25,750National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings70%National 67%

All 16 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	Park UniversityParkville · private nonprofit	$49,305	$53,799	$18,299	37%
2	Columbia College (Missouri)Columbia · private nonprofit	$46,195	$53,163	$25,750	56%
3	Saint Louis UniversitySaint Louis · private nonprofit	$45,709	$61,978	$23,694	52%
4	Missouri Baptist UniversitySaint Louis · private nonprofit	$42,555	$63,303	$23,187	54%
5	Missouri Western StateSaint Joseph · public	$39,808	$46,095	$20,149	51%
6	Drury UniversitySpringfield · private nonprofit	$38,014	$40,301	$34,000	89%
7	UMKCKansas City · public	$37,397	$51,226	$18,944	51%
8	University of Central MissouriWarrensburg · public	$37,221	$52,540	$23,279	63%
9	Southeast Missouri StateCape Girardeau · public	$36,537	$48,474	$26,625	73%
10	Lindenwood UniversitySaint Charles · private nonprofit	$36,253	$53,222	$27,000	74%
11	Central Methodist University-College of Liberal Arts and SciencesFayette · private nonprofit	$36,223	$40,180	$26,000	72%
12	Harris-Stowe StateSaint Louis · public	$34,108	$41,657	$32,000	94%
13	Culver-Stockton CollegeCanton · private nonprofit	$33,394	$50,911	$27,000	81%
14	Missouri Southern StateJoplin · public	$33,167	$43,976	$24,120	73%
15	Lincoln University (Missouri)Jefferson City · public	$32,331	$37,632	$37,171	115%
16	Truman StateKirksville · public	$32,176	$59,263	$21,997	68%

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

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 16 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

$40,390

Median pay in Missouri. 18,630 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $31,040Top 10%: $68,860

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$59,460

Median pay in Missouri. 13,570 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $43,210Top 10%: $90,770

Compliance Officers

$67,270

Median pay in Missouri. 7,000 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $44,060Top 10%: $118,850

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$48,520

Median pay in Missouri. 9,620 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $37,200Top 10%: $65,230

Common questions

Park University in Parkville reports the highest median first-year pay, $49,305. Its median federal debt is $18,299.

Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked557 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Certificate) programs in Missouri, ranked6 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 Missouri 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