Which Wisconsin criminal justice program has the lowest debt?

Chippewa Valley Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $15,335, with first-year pay of $60,737.

How much do criminal justice graduates earn in Wisconsin?

The median across 8 Wisconsin criminal justice certificate programs is $62,739 in the first year after graduating and $60,196 five years after.

How many criminal justice certificate programs are in Wisconsin?

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

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

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Wisconsin criminal justice certificate program pays its graduates $62,739 in their first year, $11,355 more than the national median. Gateway Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($73,818), and Chippewa Valley Technical College the lowest median debt ($15,335).

Median first-year pay$62,739National $51,384

Median pay after 5 years$60,196National $53,003

Median federal debt$18,750National $14,828

Debt-to-earnings28%National 26%

All 8 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	Gateway Technical CollegeKenosha · public	$73,818	$75,009	$18,750	25%
2	Waukesha County Technical CollegePewaukee · public	$69,115	Not reported	$19,500	28%
3	Blackhawk Technical CollegeJanesville · public	$68,669	Not reported	$19,381	28%
4	Fox Valley Technical CollegeAppleton · public	$64,741	Not reported	$22,250	34%
5	Chippewa Valley Technical CollegeEau Claire · public	$60,737	$62,796	$15,335	25%
6	Northcentral Technical CollegeWausau · public	$59,645	Not reported	$18,750	31%
7	Western Technical College (Wisconsin)La Crosse · public	$59,276	$57,230	Not reported	Not reported
8	Nicolet Area Technical CollegeRhinelander · public	$53,660	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Western Technical College (Wisconsin) and Nicolet Area Technical 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 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 6 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Gateway Technical College$73,818
Waukesha County Technical College$69,115
Blackhawk Technical College$68,669
Fox Valley Technical College$64,741
Chippewa Valley Technical College$60,737

Lowest median debt

Chippewa Valley Technical College$15,335
Gateway Technical College$18,750
Northcentral Technical College$18,750
Blackhawk Technical College$19,381
Waukesha County Technical College$19,500

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

$37,440

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $30,410Top 10%: $54,680

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

$78,090

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $58,530Top 10%: $94,450

Compliance Officers

$78,800

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $56,010Top 10%: $125,160

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$59,280

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $44,400Top 10%: $80,900

Common questions

Gateway Technical College in Kenosha reports the highest median first-year pay, $73,818. Its median federal debt is $18,750.

Criminal Justice (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked139 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Bachelor's) programs in Wisconsin, ranked10 programs by pay and debt Criminal Justice (Associate's) programs in Wisconsin, 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 Wisconsin 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