Forensic Psychology
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OverviewSalary and DebtIs a Bachelor's EnoughCareersSchoolsRelated ProgramsGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Forensic psychology is a program that prepares individuals to apply clinical, counseling, school, and neuropsychology skills to the provision of psychological services within the criminal justice and civil legal systems, including consultation, assessment, and interventions. includes instruction in the epidemiology of mental/behavioral disorders, risk factors for violence and criminality, profiling and patterning, psychological testing, prediction and intervention measurement, forensic assessment, criminal and civil law and procedures, secure environments, forensic treatment and intervention skills, and professional standards and ethics.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($88K) with a Doctorate: Hofstra University
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Forensic psychology majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
Elementary and Middle School S...Specialized Social WorkersSpecialized ManagersEducational, Guidance, and Car...Specialized PsychologistsLawyers, and judges, magistrat...Postsecondary TeachersRegistered NursesLabor Relations SpecialistsEducation and childcare admini...PhysiciansSpecialized CounselorsSecretaries and Administrative...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Specialized TherapistsAccountants and AuditorsChief executives and legislato...Management Analysts
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
05001K2K2K0-1 Year CertificateBachelor's DegreePostbaccalaureate CertMaster's DegreePost-master's CertProfessional DegreeResearch Doctorate
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for psychology changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
05001,0001,5002,000200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Research Doctorate
Professional Degree
Post-master's Cert
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
Associate's Degree
1-2 Year Certificate
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in forensic psychology doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer a degree in the field clinical, counseling and applied psychology, which includes forensic psychology.
Median starting salaries
$32K$46K$54K$65K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KDoctoratePost-master's CertMaster'sBachelor's
Median cumulative loan amount
$26K$50K$42K$140K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KDoctoratePost-master's CertMaster'sBachelor's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for psychology majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$54K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: psychology majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's inpsychology by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$46K$85K$77K$61K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorateProfessional
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in psychology
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in psychology. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 47% of psychology majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of psychology majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 76% of other fields.
47%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
33%85%69%0%20%40%60%80%100%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
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Careers for psychology majors
Where do psychology majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in psychology
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by psychology graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
Elementary and Middl...Specialized Social W...Specialized ManagersEducational, Guidanc...Specialized Psycholo...Lawyers, and judges,...Postsecondary Teache...Registered NursesLabor Relations Spec...Education and childc...All othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire psychology majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire psychology majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by psychology majors.
PsychologyAll other degreesSchool PsychologistsClinical and Counseling P...Specialized PsychologistsMarriage and Family Thera...Mental Health CounselorsSpecialized TherapistsSpecialized CounselorsSubstance Abuse and Behav...Educational, Guidance, an...Rehabilitation CounselorsHealthcare Social WorkersMental Health and Substan...Child, Family, and School...Specialized Social Worker...Social and Human Service ...Specialized Healthcare Di...Social and Community Serv...Government Programs Eligi...Probation Officers and Co...Occupational TherapistsLabor Relations Specialis...Compensation and Benefits...Community and Social Serv...Medical and Health Servic...Compensation, Benefits, a...AcupuncturistsSpecial Education Teacher...Human Resources ManagersSpecialized Educational I...Specialized Social Scient...Preschool and Kindergarte...Paralegals and Legal Assi...Training and Development ...Recreational TherapistsTraining and Development ...Flight AttendantsPrivate Detectives and In...Claims Adjusters, Examine...Specialized Religious Wor...Natural Sciences ManagersEducation and childcare a...Detectives and Criminal I...TutorsSpecialized Teachers and ...Postsecondary TeachersExercise Trainers and Gro...Coaches and ScoutsClerical Library Assistan...Speech-Language Pathologi...FundraisersCompliance OfficersAdministrative Services M...Specialized Life, Physica...Business Operations Speci...Physician AssistantsChiropractorsProperty, Real Estate, an...Meeting, Convention, and ...Specialized Healthcare Pr...AudiologistsClergySpecialized Life Scientis...Financial ExaminersReligious Activities and ...Mathematical ScientistsReal estate brokers and s...Appraisers and Assessors ...Interpreters and Translat...Physical TherapistsPhotographersInsurance Sales AgentsSpecialized Legal Support...Librarians and Media Coll...Fashion DesignersSales Representatives of ...Project Management Specia...Umpires, Referees, and Ot...Insurance UnderwritersFinancial SpecialistsNuclear medicine technolo...Purchasing AgentsWriters and AuthorsManagement AnalystsMarket Research Analysts ...Loan OfficersOperations Research Analy...Entertainment and Recreat...Advertising Sales AgentsFirst-Line Supervisors of...Military officer special ...Elementary and Middle Sch...Public Relations Speciali...Marketing ManagersFirst-Line Supervisors of...Specialized ManagersGeneral and Operations Ma...Tax Examiners/Collectors ...Wholesale and Manufacturi...Agents and Business Manag...Specialized Sales and Rel...Nurse Practitioners and N...Public relations and fund...Chief executives and legi...Occupational Health and S...Procurement ClerksSpecialized Entertainers,...Medical and Clinical Labo...Lodging ManagersAdvertising and Promotion...Sales ManagersPurchasing ManagersTax PreparersLogisticiansSpecialized Physical Scie...Technical WritersPersonal Financial Adviso...Registered NursesNetwork and Computer Syst...Computer Systems AnalystsDatabase administrators a...Financial ManagersComputer User Support Spe...Budget AnalystsEditorsSpecialized Computer Occu...Securities, Commodities, ...Computer and Information ...Producers and DirectorsSpecialized Financial Cle...Archivists, curators, and...ActorsDietitians and Nutritioni...Sales EngineersMusicians and SingersCredit AnalystsPharmacistsSpecialized DesignersEconomistsNurse AnesthetistsFinancial and Investment ...Graphic DesignersAccountants and AuditorsNews Analysts, Reporters,...ArchitectsAll other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer forensic psychology degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns

The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:

  • Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.

  • Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).

  • Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.

We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.

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Related Programs
Top 10 similar programs
Following are related programs, ordered by those with the highest number of completions. You can explore a full list by pressing the more details button.
  1. Psychology
  2. Human Development and Family Studies
  3. Counseling Psychology
  4. Specialized Study in Research and Experimental Psychology
  5. Clinical Psychology
  6. Child Development
  7. Behavioral Sciences
  8. Applied Behavior Analysis
  9. School Psychology
  10. Specialized Study in Psychology
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Careers for psychology majors
psychology is part of a larger collection of programs: Psychology. Is there a different program that's close to psychology that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in forensic psychology earned in the last academic year, 84% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
05001K2K2KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
69%31%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a higher percentage of women than 85% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
$52K$63K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For psychology graduates, men have a 23% higher median salary than women, This is high: 66% of programs have graduates with lower salary inequities.
23%23%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all forensic psychology graduates from this last academic year. We found a lower percentage of international graduates than in 55% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
05001K2K2KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a higher percentage of graduates than in 77% of other programs.