Which Pennsylvania criminology program has the lowest debt?

Saint Joseph's University reports the lowest median federal debt, $25,000, with first-year pay of $43,283.

How much do criminology graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 9 Pennsylvania criminology bachelor's programs is $37,911 in the first year after graduating and $51,702 five years after.

How many criminology bachelor's programs are in Pennsylvania?

9 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 7 of them also report federal debt.

Criminology (Bachelor's) Programs in Pennsylvania, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

9 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Criminology

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Pennsylvania criminology bachelor's program pays its graduates $37,911 in their first year, $435 more than the national median. Saint Joseph's University reports the highest first-year pay ($43,283), and Saint Joseph's University the lowest median debt ($25,000).

Median first-year pay$37,911National $37,476

Median pay after 5 years$51,702National $54,271

Median federal debt$27,000National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings71%National 64%

All 9 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	Saint Joseph's UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$43,283	$74,682	$25,000	58%
2	Lycoming CollegeWilliamsport · private nonprofit	$40,646	$50,594	$27,000	66%
3	Drexel UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$40,229	Not reported	$27,000	67%
4	Lebanon Valley CollegeAnnville · private nonprofit	$38,828	$69,387	Not reported	Not reported
5	Indiana University of PennsylvaniaIndiana · public	$37,911	$54,507	$27,000	71%
6	Saint Vincent CollegeLatrobe · private nonprofit	$37,563	$53,538	$27,000	72%
7	Slippery Rock University of PennsylvaniaSlippery Rock · public	$36,276	$46,885	$25,990	72%
8	Eastern UniversitySaint Davids · private nonprofit	$34,876	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	Arcadia UniversityGlenside · private nonprofit	$33,823	$51,702	$26,000	77%

Lebanon Valley College and Eastern University report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania criminology program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 7 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Saint Joseph's University$43,283
Lycoming College$40,646
Drexel University$40,229
Lebanon Valley College$38,828
Indiana University of Pennsylvania$37,911

Lowest median debt

Saint Joseph's University$25,000
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania$25,990
Arcadia University$26,000
Lycoming College$27,000
Drexel University$27,000

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 criminology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Sociologists

$106,030

Median pay nationwide. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 200 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.

Common questions

Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia reports the highest median first-year pay, $43,283. Its median federal debt is $25,000.

Criminology (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked105 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 Pennsylvania rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the criminology 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