Criminal Justice Schools in Chicago: Programs, Salaries, and Getting Started

Updated September 28, 2026

Chicago has institutions across the city offering programs in the federal criminal-justice-family CIP codes, from certificates at City Colleges of Chicago to a master’s-level program at the University of Illinois Chicago. The Chicago Police Department, spread across 22 patrol districts, is the city’s largest law enforcement employer, and May 2025 BLS data puts the Chicago-area median for Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers at $107,810.

If you’re weighing a criminal justice degree in Chicago, you have real options across the city, from two-year certificates at the City Colleges of Chicago to graduate programs at Loyola, UIC, and others. What you study, and where, should track where you’re headed: patrol work with CPD, a corrections post with Cook County, or a role in legal support or homeland security.

The Chicago Police Department runs 22 patrol districts across the city, each staffed by patrol officers, detectives, and investigators. It’s the single largest employer most criminal justice graduates in the area will run into, though corrections, the courts, and private security all draw from the same pool of candidates.

Featured Programs:

Certificate, Associate, Bachelor’s, or Master’s: What Each Level Actually Involves

A certificate is the shortest option, generally a year or less of dedicated criminal justice coursework with few or no general-education requirements. An associate degree runs about two years and adds broader general-education coursework alongside the major. A bachelor’s takes about four years. What any of these actually unlocks depends entirely on the employer: hiring and promotion requirements vary by agency, and Chicago-area departments don’t share one standard, so check your target agency directly rather than assuming.

The federal government is the clearest example of a degree requirement that’s spelled out directly. FBI Special Agents need at least a bachelor’s degree, but a degree alone isn’t enough: current GL-10 entry requires a bachelor’s plus two years of full-time professional work experience, or an advanced degree plus one year. A separate GL-09 pathway exists for applicants who already have a year of full-time sworn law enforcement experience alongside a bachelor’s (no extra experience needed with a master’s or doctorate).

A master’s is a graduate-level credential built on that foundation, but program length, structure, and specialization options vary by school. If you’re considering one, compare a few programs directly rather than assuming they all work the same way.

How Illinois Actually Certifies Police Officers

Getting hired isn’t the same thing as being a certified Illinois law enforcement officer. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) sets the statewide basic-training curriculum and certification standards, and that process runs separately from any individual department’s own hiring and screening steps.

Illinois’ current local Basic Law Enforcement course runs 640 hours, and it’s only open to recruits already employed by an Illinois municipal police department or county sheriff’s office. You can’t attend it on your own before getting hired. The Illinois State Police runs its own separate academy for ISP-specific recruits. After completing basic training, recruits must pass ILETSB’s certification examination to become a certified Illinois law enforcement officer.

CPD’s own hiring process happens before any of this and is specific to the department. If you’re applying to CPD or elsewhere in Illinois, confirm that agency’s current hiring sequence directly with them, since it isn’t standardized statewide.

Where to Study: Chicago-Area Programs in the Criminal-Justice Family

Federal education data groups criminal justice with five adjacent fields under one broader classification: Criminal Justice and Corrections itself, plus Legal Support Services, Fire Protection, Homeland Security, and Security Science and Technology. Eighteen institutions in Chicago show up somewhere in that broader family, per the U.S. Department of Education’s most recent data, but not all 18 offer Criminal Justice and Corrections specifically. Malcolm X College, for example, is listed only under Fire Protection, and Adler University only under Homeland Security. The table below shows exactly which family each school’s Chicago program falls under.

Institution	Type	Levels Offered	Program Family
University of Illinois Chicago	Public, 4-year	Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctoral	Criminal Justice
Loyola University Chicago	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Certificate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, Post-baccalaureate certificate	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services, Security Science and Technology
Chicago State University	Public, 4-year	Bachelor’s, Master’s	Criminal Justice
Roosevelt University	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Associate, Bachelor’s, Post-baccalaureate certificate	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services
Northeastern Illinois University	Public, 4-year	Bachelor’s	Criminal Justice
North Park University	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Bachelor’s	Criminal Justice
Saint Xavier University	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Bachelor’s	Criminal Justice
University of Chicago	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Master’s (unconfirmed — see note below)	Criminal Justice
Adler University	Private nonprofit, 4-year	Master’s	Homeland Security
Taylor Business Institute	Private for-profit, 2-year	Associate	Criminal Justice
Generations College	Private nonprofit, 2-year	Associate	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services
City Colleges of Chicago – Harold Washington College	Public, 2-year	Certificate, Associate	Criminal Justice, Legal Support Services
City Colleges of Chicago – Harry S Truman College	Public, 2-year	Certificate, Associate	Criminal Justice
City Colleges of Chicago – Kennedy-King College	Public, 2-year	Certificate, Associate	Criminal Justice
City Colleges of Chicago – Olive-Harvey College	Public, 2-year	Certificate, Associate	Criminal Justice
City Colleges of Chicago – Richard J. Daley College	Public, 2-year	Certificate, Associate	Criminal Justice
City Colleges of Chicago – Wilbur Wright College	Public, 2-year	Certificate, Associate	Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, Legal Support Services
City Colleges of Chicago – Malcolm X College	Public, 2-year	Associate	Fire Protection

This reflects what each school reported to the Department of Education as of the current Scorecard snapshot (institution data May 2025, program data April 2025), not necessarily this year’s course catalog. Two entries need a specific note: the University of Illinois Chicago’s listed programs run through its Criminology, Law, and Justice department, not a program branded simply “Criminal Justice.” The University of Chicago’s graduate listing in this federal dataset could not be independently confirmed against the university’s own current catalog. Confirm the exact program name and current status directly with the university before relying on it, and treat the seven City Colleges of Chicago entries the same way: current offerings at any individual campus should be confirmed directly with that campus, since community college program lists change more often than the annual federal collection captures. Confirm current enrollment, format, and admission requirements directly with any school before applying.

Private-school costs vary widely. Loyola University Chicago, for instance, publishes current tuition and fees directly on its site, which is worth checking before comparing it against a public option.

School and program data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, institution file May 2025 and field-of-study file April 2025. Data accessed September 2026.

What Chicago Criminal Justice Careers Pay

As of May 2025 BLS wage data, Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area have a median annual wage of $107,810, compared with $100,520 statewide. Correctional Officers and Jailers have a median wage of $84,550 in the metro area versus $79,190 statewide, and Security Guards have a median wage of $39,990 in the metro area versus $39,490 statewide.

Occupation	Chicago Metro Median	Illinois Median	IL Job Growth, 2024–34
Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers	$107,810	$100,520	+5.2% (about 2,460 openings/year)
Correctional Officers and Jailers	$84,550	$79,190	-4.6% (about 1,060 openings/year)
Security Guards	$39,990	$39,490	+1.3% (about 6,920 openings/year)

Correctional officers are the outlier of the three: pay is comparable to patrol work, but Illinois projects a 4.6% decline in the number of these positions through 2034, the only decline among the three occupations. Security guard openings are the highest of the three in raw numbers, an average of about 6,920 a year statewide, reflecting how much larger that workforce is even though its median wage is the lowest of the three.

The Chicago Police Department publishes its own step pay scale directly (the department’s current pay directive), and probationary starting pay differs from the BLS median above, which blends every rank and tenure level. Check the current version before you compare the two.

Professional Organizations Worth Joining

Joining a professional association before you finish school is one of the more overlooked ways to build a network before you need one. In Chicago, that includes the Chicago Police Lieutenants Association, the Illinois Correctional Association, and the Illinois Paralegal Association. All three run events and job boards worth checking even before you graduate.

May 2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers, Correctional Officers and Jailers, and Security Guards. Long-term (2024-34) job growth projections from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, ProjectionsCentral. Figures reflect city and state data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed September 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a college degree to become a Chicago police officer?

The Chicago Police Department’s current application process does not require a bachelor’s degree, though applicants go through the department’s own testing and background screening. Requirements differ at other Illinois agencies, so confirm your target department’s current process directly. Federal roles are a different story: FBI Special Agents need at least a bachelor’s degree plus qualifying work experience under current requirements.

How many criminal justice schools are in Chicago?

Eighteen institutions in Chicago appear in current federal education data under the broader “criminal justice family” of program codes, which covers Criminal Justice and Corrections along with Legal Support Services, Homeland Security, Fire Protection, and Security Science and Technology. Not all 18 offer a program specifically in Criminal Justice and Corrections. Malcolm X College, for example, is listed only under Fire Protection.

What’s the difference between an associate and a bachelor’s degree for this field?

An associate degree generally takes about two years, and a bachelor’s about four, with a bachelor’s adding more general-education coursework. What either one unlocks depends entirely on the employer. Some entry-level roles accept an associate degree or less; others, like FBI Special Agent positions, require a bachelor’s outright. Check your target agency’s specific requirements rather than assuming one standard applies across Chicago.

How much do Chicago-area corrections officers make?

As of May 2025 BLS data, Correctional Officers and Jailers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area have a median wage of $84,550 a year, compared with $79,190 statewide. Illinois projects a 4.6% decline in the number of these positions through 2034, even as roughly 1,060 openings a year are still expected.

Key Takeaways

CPD doesn’t require a bachelor’s to apply. The department hires through its own testing process; other Illinois agencies set their own requirements, so confirm before assuming a citywide or statewide standard.
Eighteen local schools sit in the broader criminal-justice family. Options range from certificates at the City Colleges of Chicago to a Criminology, Law, and Justice program at UIC, per current federal education data, though not every listed school offers Criminal Justice and Corrections specifically.
Patrol pay runs higher in the Chicago metro than statewide. Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers median $107,810 in the metro area versus $100,520 statewide, and Illinois projects 5.2% growth in these positions through 2034.
Corrections is the exception. Pay is comparable to patrol at $84,550, but Illinois projects a slight decline in the number of these roles over the next decade.

Whatever level you’re starting from, check your target department’s specific hiring minimums and academy schedule before you commit to a program. They vary enough between Illinois agencies that a generic timeline can be off by months.

Looking beyond this city? Read the full guide to Criminal Justice Schools in Illinois.