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Rankings / By State

Best Criminal Justice Colleges in Texas

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 50 schools · Agent Insights
50
Schools Analyzed
$46,078
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
37%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$11,993
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 50 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 50
Avg. earnings at 10yr $46,078
Avg. graduation rate 37%
Avg. net price $11,993
Avg. median debt $16,890

How We Ranked

Criminal Justice programs in Texas ranked by outcomes and program concentration

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICESam HoustonEast TexasUniversity ofTexas StateSul Ross

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Sam Houston State Univer…55%East Texas A&M University44%University of North Texas60%Texas State University56%Sul Ross State University29%The University of Texas …48%The University of Texas …52%Lamar University37%Angelo State University42%Temple College29%Tarleton State University50%North Central Texas Coll…35%Odessa College32%College of the Mainland30%Texas A & M Internationa…48%Amarillo College31%Texas Wesleyan University32%Wayland Baptist Universi…19%McLennan Community Colle…37%Hill College30%

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Full Rankings

#1

Sam Houston State University

Huntsville, TX · 17,743 students · Public

90% accepted 55% graduate $54,211 earnings
Sam's full profile
#2

East Texas A&M University

Commerce, TX · 9,912 students · Public

92% accepted 44% graduate $50,296 earnings
East's full profile
#3

University of North Texas

Denton, TX · 34,341 students · Public

72% accepted 60% graduate $57,010 earnings
University's full profile
#4

Texas State University

San Marcos, TX · 36,177 students · Public

89% accepted 56% graduate $56,906 earnings
Texas's full profile
#5

Sul Ross State University

Alpine, TX · 1,396 students · Public

99% accepted 29% graduate $41,871 earnings
Sul's full profile
#6

The University of Texas at El Paso

El Paso, TX · 21,005 students · Public

100% accepted 48% graduate $50,923 earnings
The's full profile
#7

The University of Texas at San Antonio

San Antonio, TX · 30,580 students · Public

87% accepted 52% graduate $57,131 earnings
The's full profile
#8

Lamar University

Beaumont, TX · 8,150 students · Public

86% accepted 37% graduate $49,652 earnings
Lamar's full profile
#9

Angelo State University

San Angelo, TX · 5,643 students · Public

83% accepted 42% graduate $50,116 earnings
Angelo's full profile
#10

Temple College

Temple, TX · 3,178 students · Public

29% graduate $38,678 earnings
Temple's full profile
#11

Tarleton State University

Stephenville, TX · 12,673 students · Public

90% accepted 50% graduate $53,040 earnings
Tarleton's full profile
#12

North Central Texas College

Gainesville, TX · 5,863 students · Public

35% graduate $45,809 earnings
North's full profile
#13

Odessa College

Odessa, TX · 4,654 students · Public

32% graduate $42,026 earnings
Odessa's full profile
#14

College of the Mainland

Texas City, TX · 3,368 students · Public

30% graduate $39,639 earnings
College's full profile
#15

Texas A & M International University

Laredo, TX · 6,667 students · Public

44% accepted 48% graduate $48,386 earnings
Texas's full profile
#16

Amarillo College

Amarillo, TX · 7,399 students · Public

31% graduate $41,302 earnings
Amarillo's full profile
#17

Texas Wesleyan University

Fort Worth, TX · 1,741 students · Private nonprofit

69% accepted 32% graduate $54,053 earnings
Texas's full profile
#18

Wayland Baptist University

Plainview, TX · 2,041 students · Private nonprofit

56% accepted 19% graduate $51,838 earnings
Wayland's full profile
#19

McLennan Community College

Waco, TX · 5,668 students · Public

37% graduate $39,163 earnings
McLennan's full profile
#20

Hill College

Hillsboro, TX · 2,253 students · Public

30% graduate $39,572 earnings
Hill's full profile
#21

Abilene Christian University

Abilene, TX · 3,195 students · Private nonprofit

66% accepted 60% graduate $55,736 earnings
Abilene's full profile
#22

South Plains College

Levelland, TX · 6,005 students · Public

27% graduate $41,276 earnings
South's full profile
#23

Hardin-Simmons University

Abilene, TX · 1,283 students · Private nonprofit

90% accepted 48% graduate $54,771 earnings
Hardin-Simmons's full profile
#24

Southwest Texas College

Uvalde, TX · 3,306 students · Public

32% graduate $35,563 earnings
Southwest's full profile
#25

Our Lady of the Lake University

San Antonio, TX · 1,066 students · Private nonprofit

44% graduate $48,675 earnings
Our's full profile
#26

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Edinburg, TX · 28,666 students · Public

94% accepted 50% graduate $49,620 earnings
The's full profile
#27

University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX · 4,440 students · Private nonprofit

98% accepted 51% graduate $56,733 earnings
University's full profile
#28

Lamar Institute of Technology

Beaumont, TX · 3,055 students · Public

29% graduate $38,991 earnings
Lamar's full profile
#29

Weatherford College

Weatherford, TX · 5,094 students · Public

28% graduate $42,397 earnings
Weatherford's full profile
#30

El Paso Community College

El Paso, TX · 24,214 students · Public

23% graduate $35,212 earnings
El's full profile
#31

Tyler Junior College

Tyler, TX · 9,087 students · Public

27% graduate $38,140 earnings
Tyler's full profile
#32

Alvin Community College

Alvin, TX · 3,342 students · Public

24% graduate $45,762 earnings
Alvin's full profile
#33

University of Houston-Downtown

Houston, TX · 12,555 students · Public

90% accepted 33% graduate $53,551 earnings
University's full profile
#34

San Antonio College

San Antonio, TX · 16,416 students · Public

24% graduate $39,711 earnings
San's full profile
#35

Texas Southern University

Houston, TX · 6,844 students · Public

97% accepted 21% graduate $38,924 earnings
Texas's full profile
#36

St. Mary's University

San Antonio, TX · 1,951 students · Private nonprofit

98% accepted 60% graduate $56,955 earnings
St.'s full profile
#37

Saint Edward's University

Austin, TX · 2,493 students · Private nonprofit

81% accepted 63% graduate $58,826 earnings
Saint's full profile
#38

Texas A&M University-Texarkana

Texarkana, TX · 1,982 students · Public

64% accepted 30% graduate $45,515 earnings
Texas's full profile
#39

University of Houston-Victoria

Victoria, TX · 2,513 students · Public

96% accepted 26% graduate $54,467 earnings
University's full profile
#40

Prairie View A & M University

Prairie View, TX · 8,877 students · Public

79% accepted 43% graduate $45,411 earnings
Prairie's full profile
#41

Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi, TX · 8,034 students · Public

89% accepted 37% graduate $51,865 earnings
Texas's full profile
#42

Navarro College

Corsicana, TX · 3,781 students · Public

23% graduate $38,716 earnings
Navarro's full profile
#43

Wiley University

Marshall, TX · 712 students · Private nonprofit

22% graduate $33,159 earnings
Wiley's full profile
#44

Texas Southmost College

Brownsville, TX · 3,372 students · Public

28% graduate $41,900 earnings
Texas's full profile
#45

Jarvis Christian University

Hawkins, TX · 577 students · Private nonprofit

15% graduate $32,992 earnings
Jarvis's full profile
#46

Howard College

Big Spring, TX · 1,611 students · Public

35% graduate $38,382 earnings
Howard's full profile
#47

North American University

Stafford, TX · 609 students · Private nonprofit

29% graduate
North's full profile
#48

Huston-Tillotson University

Austin, TX · 1,005 students · Private nonprofit

39% accepted 35% graduate $42,937 earnings
Huston-Tillotson's full profile
#49

University of North Texas at Dallas

Dallas, TX · 2,878 students · Public

84% accepted 43% graduate
University's full profile
#50

Laredo College

Laredo, TX · 5,818 students · Public

30% graduate $33,934 earnings
Laredo's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics.

[2]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.