Criminology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #53 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 5 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminology Bachelor's Degree Schools in Ohio ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 332 bachelor's degrees in criminology to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Criminology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The criminology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality criminology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of criminology students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for criminology to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminology students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminology Bachelor's Degree Schools in Ohio ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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Ohio State University - Main Campus is a wonderful option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminology. Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Columbus.
Criminology bachelor's degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,326 over the typical income of criminology graduates.
Cleveland State University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in criminology. Located in the city of Cleveland, Cleveland State University is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the criminology program report average early career income of $32,393.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in criminology has to check out Capital University. Located in the large suburb of Columbus, Capital is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
After graduation, criminology bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $32,984 in their early careers.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in criminology needs to check out Wright State University - Main Campus. Wright State University - Main Campus is a medium-sized public university located in the suburb of Dayton.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the criminology program make around $37,476 in their early career salary.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
by our College Data Analytics Team
The criminology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality criminology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
