Which Missouri criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City reports the lowest median federal debt, $4,821, with first-year pay of $48,137.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Missouri?

The median across 6 Missouri criminal justice certificate programs is $43,252 in the first year after graduating and $45,675 five years after.

How many criminal justice certificate programs are in Missouri?

6 Missouri programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Criminal Justice (Certificate) Programs in Missouri, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

6 programs report first-year pay
5 also report federal debt
Certificate in Criminal Justice and Corrections

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Missouri criminal justice certificate program pays its graduates $43,252 in their first year, $8,133 less than the national median. Jefferson College reports the highest first-year pay ($61,641), and Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City the lowest median debt ($4,821).

Median first-year pay$43,252National $51,384

Median pay after 5 years$45,675National $53,003

Median federal debt$8,265National $14,828

Debt-to-earnings20%National 26%

All 6 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	Jefferson CollegeHillsboro · public	$61,641	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
2	Metropolitan Community College-Kansas CityKansas City · public	$48,137	$53,393	$4,821	10%
3	Mineral Area CollegePark Hills · public	$45,217	$50,469	$9,500	21%
4	Moberly Area Community CollegeMoberly · public	$41,286	$38,413	$6,337	15%
5	Drury UniversitySpringfield · private nonprofit	$41,277	Not reported	$8,265	20%
6	Missouri Southern StateJoplin · public	$34,058	$40,880	$18,649	55%

Jefferson College reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

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 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Jefferson College$61,641
Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City$48,137
Mineral Area College$45,217
Moberly Area Community College$41,286
Drury University$41,277

Lowest median debt

Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City$4,821
Moberly Area Community College$6,337
Drury University$8,265
Mineral Area College$9,500
Missouri Southern State$18,649

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

Jefferson College in Hillsboro reports the highest median first-year pay, $61,641.

Criminal Justice (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked139 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in Missouri, ranked16 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 certificate 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