How To Become A Criminal Intelligence Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a criminal intelligence analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Wesley Jennings

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a criminal intelligence analyst. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.03 an hour? That's $54,148 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a criminal intelligence analyst?

Wesley Jennings

Gillespie Distinguished Scholar, Chair, & Professor, University of Mississippi

Some of the best advice I can provide for recent graduates who are beginning their career in the criminal justice field is to focus on active networking and professional development. This can be pursued through attendance at professional conferences/events, workshops, social media engagement, internships, etc. This will ensure that you are always up-to-date on what is going on in your career field, and permit you the ability to take advantage of opportunities for growth, promotion, and career advancement.

ScoreCriminal Intelligence AnalystUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $54,148

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.69%

Asian 2.94%

Black or African American 13.78%

Hispanic or Latino 14.45%

Unknown 5.09%

White 63.05%

Gender

female 42.62%

male 57.38%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a criminal intelligence analyst

Explore criminal intelligence analyst education requirements

Most common criminal intelligence analyst degrees

Bachelor's

68.1 %

Master's

13.8 %

Associate

13.3 %

Start to develop specific criminal intelligence analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Law Enforcement Agencies	16.79%
Criminal Justice	6.82%
Open Source	5.54%
Local Law Enforcement	5.36%
Patrol	4.98%

Complete relevant criminal intelligence analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New criminal intelligence analysts learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a criminal intelligence analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real criminal intelligence analyst resumes.

Research criminal intelligence analyst duties and responsibilities

Collaborate with the ITC and J2 to offer new ideas to accomplish overall mission successes.
Help developed and train police personnel on the installation, monitoring and utilization of CCTV.
Utilize GIS software (ESRI ArcGIS) to produce relevant hotspot maps to correspond with regular intelligence projects.
Possess exceptional presentation and negotiation skills.

Prepare your criminal intelligence analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your criminal intelligence analyst resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a criminal intelligence analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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