2025 Best Criminology Master's Degree Schools in Missouri

Criminology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #130 most popular master'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 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminology Master's Degree Schools in Missouri ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 51 master's degrees in criminology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Criminology School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of criminology for getting your master's degree school matters. 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 for a Master's Degree 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 master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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 - How many other criminology students want to attend this school to pursue a master's 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 master's 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 complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for criminology students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Criminology Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminology Master's Degree Schools in Missouri ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminology in Missouri

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in criminology.

Top Missouri Schools for a Master's in Criminology

1

Missouri State University - Springfield
Springfield, MO

13 Annual Graduates

$41,747 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Missouri State University - Springfield if you wish to pursue a master's degree in criminology. Located in the city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public university with a very large student population.

Soon after graduating, criminology master's recipients usually earn around $41,747 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in criminology from Missouri State University - Springfield

2

University of Missouri - St Louis
Saint Louis, MO

13 Annual Graduates

University of Missouri - St Louis is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminology. UMSL is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Saint Louis.More information about a master’s in criminology from University of Missouri - St Louis

3

University of Missouri - Kansas City
Kansas City, MO

14 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Missouri - Kansas City if you want to pursue a master's degree in criminology. UMKC is a large public university located in the city of Kansas City.More information about a master’s in criminology from University of Missouri - Kansas City

4

Lindenwood University
Saint Charles, MO

11 Annual Graduates

$47,448 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in criminology needs to take a look at Lindenwood University. Lindenwood University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Saint Charles.

Master's recipients from the criminology major at Lindenwood University make $2,851 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in criminology from Lindenwood University

Best Criminology Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Criminology Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Minnesota	174	0

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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	51

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.