Criminal Justice (Associate's) Programs in Wisconsin, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt
- 12 programs report first-year pay
- 10 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 Wisconsin criminal justice associate's program pays its graduates $39,298 in their first year, $5,948 more than the national median. Southwest Wisconsin Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($51,806), and Northcentral Technical College the lowest median debt ($9,750).
All 12 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.
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and Moraine Park Technical College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. 3 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.
Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin criminal justice program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Wisconsin medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 10 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
$37,440Median pay in Wisconsin. 12,030 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
$78,090Median pay in Wisconsin. 12,320 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.
Compliance Officers
$78,800Median pay in Wisconsin. 5,710 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
$59,280Median pay in Wisconsin. 5,710 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.
Common questions
Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore reports the highest median first-year pay, $51,806. Its median federal debt is $12,750.
Northcentral Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $9,750, with first-year pay of $39,421.
The median across 12 Wisconsin criminal justice associate's programs is $39,298 in the first year after graduating and $49,922 five years after.
12 Wisconsin programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 10 of them also report federal debt.
Related pages
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 Wisconsin 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