Fire and Arson Investigation and Prevention
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OverviewSalary and DebtIs a Bachelor's EnoughCareersSchoolsRelated ProgramsGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Fire and arson investigation and prevention is a program focusing on the theory and principles of fire combustion and behavior applied to the analysis of fires and their causes. includes instruction in fire behavior and combustion, fire dynamics, hazardous materials chemistry, incendiary fire analysis, fire-related human behavior, forensic procedures, investigative techniques, case management and case preparation.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($93K) with a Bachelor's Degree: Southern Illinois University - Carbondale
Career with the highest median salary ($105K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Fire and arson investigation and prevention 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.
Police OfficersSpecialized ManagersProbation Officers and Correct...Security Guards and Gambling S...Lawyers, and judges, magistrat...Correctional Officers and Jail...Specialized Social WorkersDetectives and Criminal Invest...Elementary and Middle School S...First-Line Supervisors of Poli...First-Line Supervisors of Offi...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Paralegals and Legal Assistant...Customer Service Representativ...Secretaries and Administrative...FirefightersRetail SalespersonsPrivate Detectives and Investi...
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
02040600-1 Year CertificateBachelor's Degree
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for criminal justice and fire protection 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
02040602010201120122013201420152016201720182019
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 fire and arson investigation and prevention 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 fire protection, which includes fire and arson investigation and prevention.
Median starting salaries
$39K$63K$68K$52K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KMaster'sBachelor'sAssociate'sCertificate
Median cumulative loan amount
$18K$34K$44K$0$20K$40K$60KMaster'sBachelor'sAssociate's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for criminal justice and fire protection majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$54K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: criminal justice and fire protection majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's incriminal justice and fire protection by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$74K$52K$64K$75K$0$50K$100K$150KBachelor'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 criminal justice and fire protection
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 criminal justice and fire protection. 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 22% of criminal justice and fire protection majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of criminal justice and fire protection majors also earned a graduate degree is near the middle in comparison to other fields.
22%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.
23%44%42%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
Top careers for those with a degree in criminal justice and fire protection
Following are the most frequent jobs held by people who earned a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Fire Protection (which combines 15 programs), though may not be limited to just those with a bachelor’s.
  1. Police Officers
  2. Specialized Managers
  3. Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
  4. Security Guards and Gambling Surveillance Officers
  5. Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
  6. Correctional Officers and Jailers
  7. Specialized Social Workers
  8. Detectives and Criminal Investigators
  9. Elementary and Middle School School Teachers
  10. First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
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Careers for criminal justice and fire protection majors
Where do criminal justice and fire protection 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 criminal justice and fire protection
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by criminal justice and fire protection 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
Police OfficersSpecialized ManagersProbation Officers a...Security Guards and ...Lawyers, and judges,...Correctional Officer...Specialized Social W...Detectives and Crimi...Elementary and Middl...First-Line Superviso...All othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire criminal justice and fire protection majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire criminal justice and fire protection 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 criminal justice and fire protection majors.
Criminal Justice and Fire...All other degreesFirst-Line Supervisors of...Probation Officers and Co...Detectives and Criminal I...Private Detectives and In...Emergency Management Dire...Paralegals and Legal Assi...Military officer special ...Social and Human Service ...Child, Family, and School...Specialized Social Worker...Healthcare Social WorkersClaims Adjusters, Examine...Proofreaders and Copy Mar...Government Programs Eligi...Tax Examiners/Collectors ...Specialized CounselorsCompliance OfficersMental Health and Substan...Specialized Life, Physica...Training and Development ...Substance Abuse and Behav...Specialized Legal Support...Marriage and Family Thera...Mental Health CounselorsAthletes and Sports Compe...LogisticiansSpecialized Social Scient...Operations Research Analy...Educational, Guidance, an...Training and Development ...Specialized Teachers and ...Financial SpecialistsAircraft pilots and fligh...Social and Community Serv...Astronomers and physicist...Human Resources ManagersFinancial ExaminersConservation scientists a...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer fire and arson investigation and prevention 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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3 schools offer this award at any level in the selected area.
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Total enrollment
Student to Full-time Faculty Ratio
Average Net Price
Repayment Rate
6-year Completion Rate
Related Programs
Fewer details
Careers for criminal justice and fire protection majors
criminal justice and fire protection is part of a larger collection of programs: Protective Services. Is there a different program that's close to criminal justice and fire protection 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 fire and arson investigation and prevention earned in the last academic year, 32% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
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Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
0204060Number of graduates2010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
39%61%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a lower percentage of women than 72% 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.
$62K$47K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For criminal justice and fire protection graduates, men have a 32% higher median salary than women, This is high: 88% of programs have graduates with lower salary inequities.
32%32%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all fire and arson investigation and prevention graduates from this last academic year. We found a higher percentage of international graduates in this program than in 52% 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
0204060Number of graduates2010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a lower percentage of graduates than in 95% of other programs.