How much do adjunct criminal justice professors make per course?

Across 41 criminal justice adjunct postings that disclose pay, the median is $3,225 per course; the middle half of listings fall between $1,560 and $4,500.

Do online adjunct criminal justice jobs pay less?

Online criminal justice listings show a median of $2,500 per course against $3,225 overall (from 1 online postings with disclosed pay). Institutions usually pay online and in-person sections at the same rate; the gap reflects which institutions hire online.

What would that be per year?

At the $3,225 median, three courses a term over two terms is about $19,350 before tax, with no benefits. Loads are usually capped below the level that would trigger benefits eligibility.

Adjunct criminal justice professor pay per course

From real criminal justice adjunct and lecturer postings across U.S. colleges and universities, refreshed daily. Live and recently closed listings both count.

Median per course · criminal justice: $3,225
Middle half of listings (25th–75th): $1,560 – $4,500
Typical range (5th–95th): $850 – $8,331
Institutions disclosing pay: 36

Based on 41 listings that disclose per-course pay.

Highest-paying institutions

Median per course among institutions with at least three disclosed-pay criminal justice listings.

Not enough listings yet.

By state

States with at least five disclosed-pay criminal justice listings.

Massachusetts$4,003n=8
Texas$2,800n=8

Twelve-month trend

$3,750

Nov 2025

$5,267

Feb 2026

$5,500

Mar 2026

$9,762

Apr 2026

$1,611

May 2026

$3,500

Jun 2026

$2,600

Jul 2026

$3,725

Aug 2026

$5,500

Sep 2026

$3,750

Oct 2026

Median per-course pay of listings posted each month.

What the median means per year

Adjuncts are paid per course, so annual income depends on load. At $3,225 per course:

2 courses × 2 terms: $12,900
3 courses × 2 terms: $19,350
4 courses × 3 terms: $38,700

Before tax, no benefits. Most institutions cap adjuncts below the load that would trigger benefits eligibility.

Frequently asked questions

How much do adjunct criminal justice professors make per course?: Across 41 criminal justice adjunct postings that disclose pay, the median is $3,225 per course; the middle half of listings fall between $1,560 and $4,500.
Do online adjunct criminal justice jobs pay less?: Online criminal justice listings show a median of $2,500 per course against $3,225 overall (from 1 online postings with disclosed pay). Institutions usually pay online and in-person sections at the same rate; the gap reflects which institutions hire online.
What would that be per year?: At the $3,225 median, three courses a term over two terms is about $19,350 before tax, with no benefits. Loads are usually capped below the level that would trigger benefits eligibility.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure is computed from adjunct, lecturer, and part-time faculty postings that OpenLecture tracks across 4,000+ U.S. institutions, refreshed daily. Closed listings stay in the sample, so the picture covers roughly the past year.
Only postings that state a per-course amount are compared. Hourly and annual quotes are reported separately and never converted.
Where a range is posted, the top of the range is used. Figures below $500 or above $25,000 per course are excluded as mislabelled periods.
Medians are shown, not averages, so a handful of outliers cannot move them. Pages with fewer than 25 disclosed-pay listings carry a warning.
Roughly a quarter of adjunct postings disclose pay at all; these numbers describe the institutions that do.

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