Chicago, IL (population: 2,878,948) has twenty-four law and criminal justice schools within its city limits. Loyola University Chicago, the highest ranked school in the city with a law and criminal justice program, has a total student population of 15,879. It is the 144th highest ranked school in the USA and the 3rd highest in the state of Illinois (#1 is Northwestern University). To learn more about law and criminal justice programs in Chicago, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of law and criminal justice professors at Loyola University Chicago such as Megan Alderden, James Andreou, G.J Bensinger, Art Bilek, Richard Block, and Garry Bombard.
Law and Criminal Justice students from Chicago schools who go on to become law and criminal justice professionals, corrections officers, jailers, court reporters, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 556,790 people working as lawyers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $129,020. Also, Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators make on average $63,250 per year and there are about 8,110 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan area alone, there are 100 employed arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators earning an average salary of $96,510. Lawyers in this area earn $143,450/yr and there are 24,620 employed.
Chicago lies in Cook county, which is one of the 49 counties in Illinois. Overall, the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan area has 3,669,800 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $24/hr average worker wage, and a $48,910 average annual salary. Thus, about 7 out of every 1000 jobs in Chicago are held by lawyers, and 0/1000 are held by arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators.
Of the 24 law and criminal justice schools in Chicago, only 7 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Kendall College comes out as the most expensive ($33,701/yr) for law and criminal justice students, with City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College as the lowest, reported at only $5,604/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Chicago |
| Berwyn | IL | 49,477 | 1 | 23.6937 | 4 | 5.7 miles |
| Oak Park | IL | 49,270 | 1 | 1.32863 | 0 | 6.6 miles |
| River Forest | IL | - | 2 | 45.0836 | 173 | 8.0 miles |
| River Grove | IL | - | 1 | 11.7006 | 67 | 10.0 miles |
| Blue Island | IL | - | 2 | 31.6013 | 8 | 12.6 miles |
| Palos Heights | IL | - | 1 | 26.9291 | 61 | 13.3 miles |
| Skokie | IL | 66,692 | 6 | 22.9614 | 40 | 14.2 miles |
| Evanston | IL | 78,672 | 5 | 24.133 | 202 | 14.5 miles |
| Villa Park | IL | - | 2 | 31.4324 | 7 | 16.3 miles |
| Oak Forest | IL | - | 1 | 38.4537 | 3 | 16.7 miles |
| South Holland | IL | - | 1 | 10.1002 | 61 | 17.0 miles |
| Addison | IL | - | 1 | 11.9746 | 2 | 17.1 miles |
| Lombard | IL | 43,240 | 3 | 11.1886 | 2 | 17.1 miles |
| Des Plaines | IL | 57,512 | 1 | 11.0092 | 69 | 17.3 miles |
| Calumet City | IL | - | 1 | 19.3758 | 27 | 17.4 miles |
| Downers Grove | IL | 49,475 | 1 | 0.403237 | 10 | 17.7 miles |
| Glenview | IL | 46,461 | 0 | - | 0 | 18.1 miles |
| Hammond | IN | 75,871 | 5 | 27.9021 | 191 | 18.1 miles |
| Orland Park | IL | 55,957 | 1 | 26.0399 | 11 | 18.2 miles |
| Tinley Park | IL | 60,149 | 0 | - | 0 | 19.7 miles |
| Glen Ellyn | IL | - | 1 | 13.8242 | 100 | 20.1 miles |
| Woodridge | IL | - | 1 | 16.3637 | 24 | 20.2 miles |
| Lisle | IL | - | 2 | 24.7595 | 107 | 20.5 miles |
| Mount Prospect | IL | 52,994 | 2 | 36.9644 | 21 | 20.8 miles |
| Glendale Heights | IL | - | 1 | 27.7281 | 3 | 21.3 miles |
| Bolingbrook | IL | 72,318 | 0 | - | 0 | 22.8 miles |
| Arlington Heights | IL | 73,268 | 1 | 24.4091 | 3 | 23.2 miles |
| Chicago Heights | IL | - | 1 | 9.7858 | 55 | 23.2 miles |
| Carol Stream | IL | 40,639 | 0 | - | 0 | 23.8 miles |
| Gary | IN | 94,891 | 2 | 28.0598 | 98 | 24.2 miles |