2025 Best Criminology Associate Degree Schools

Criminology is about average in terms of popularity for associate degrees programs. That is, it ranks #151 out of the 328 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for criminology students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 201 associate degrees in criminology during the <nil> academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Criminology School for Your Associate Degree

The criminology associate 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

The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. 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

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate 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 - How many other criminology students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
• 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 much debt criminology students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• 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 associate degree.

More Ways to Rank Criminology Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Criminology Associate Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Criminology in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in criminology.

Top Schools for an Associate in Criminology

1

Utah State University
Logan, UT

40 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in criminology needs to take a look at Utah State University. Located in the city of Logan, USU is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a associate in criminology from Utah State University

2

Purdue University Global
West Lafayette, IN

40 Annual Graduates

$36,766 Median Starting Salary

Purdue University Global is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in criminology. Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue University Global is a public university with a very large student population.

Associate recipients from the criminology program at Purdue University Global earn $3,890 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a associate in criminology from Purdue University Global

3

Central New Mexico Community College
Albuquerque, NM

65 Annual Graduates

$28,987 Median Starting Salary

Central New Mexico Community College is a great option for individuals pursuing an associate degree in criminology. Located in the large city of Albuquerque, CNM is a public college with a large student population.

Students who graduate with their associate from the criminology program state that they receive average early career wages of $28,987.

More information about a associate in criminology from Central New Mexico Community College

Criminology by Region

View the Best Criminology Associate Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Rankings in Majors Related to Criminology

One of 0 majors within the <nil> area of study, Criminology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Criminology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Criminology	201

Notes and References

• 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.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.