Best Online Associate in Emergency Management 2025

Badge for BEST ONLINE ASSOCIATE'S IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

By Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Chloe Dembski

Updated: Oct 17, 2024

Find top-ranked online associate in emergency management degree programs to prepare students starting their career as a firefighter, police officer, or paramedic.

Key Takeaways

The associate degree in emergency management is an affordable way to get started on your college education. The typical associate degree will take about two years to complete.

Many community colleges and two-year schools offer both traditional and online degree programs for students pursuing their associate degree in emergency management.

Earning an online associate degree in emergency management can prepare you for a variety of entry level jobs in your field. Many students also continue into a bachelor’s degree program in emergency management or a related area.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Online Associate in Emergency Management in 2025

Adelphi University
Arkansas State University
+4
Eastern Kentucky University
Idaho State University
New England College
+10
St. Petersburg College
–4
Central Texas College
–2
Schoolcraft College
+2
College of Southern Idaho
–1
Granite State College
+9

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

In 2025, the top ten schools in our ranking of the best online associate’s in emergency management saw substantial ranking changes. New England College gained the most ranking positions as the university developed the Crisis Simulation Lab, providing students with hands-on training in disaster response, emergency planning, and crisis communication through realistic simulations.

Additionally, NEC has integrated new courses focusing on cybersecurity in emergency management and climate change resilience, addressing the evolving challenges in the field. The college has also strengthened its partnerships with local and regional emergency services agencies, offering students more internship opportunities and fieldwork experiences in real-world emergency management settings. These updates make the program more dynamic and relevant to current industry demands.

Featured Programs

Best Online Associate in Emergency Management Degree Programs

Career Outlook for Students with Emergency Management Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Crisis/Emergency/Disaster Management

Degree Level: Associate's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Cost of Degree*: $3,987
Avg. Expenses*: $17,051
Avg. Starting Salary*: $42,663
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $54,450
Avg. Cost Recoup Time**: 5 years
Job Growth: 5.54%
Number of Jobs: 1,439,400
* denotes ‘annually’
** denotes ‘at 15% of annual salary’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Managers, All Other	5.75%	$133,560
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	3.81%	$101,750
Emergency Management Directors	4.03%	$83,960
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other	3.21%	$79,870
Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary	3.11%	$69,030

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Managers, All Other	$133,560
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	$101,750
Emergency Management Directors	$83,960
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other	$79,870
Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary	$69,030

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Frequently Asked Questions About Emergency Management Degrees

An associate degree in emergency management is an affordable first step whether you’re just getting a start in your career, or you already have work experience as a firefighter, police officer, or paramedic. The online emergency management degree makes it possible to earn your associate’s degree without disrupting your professional responsibilities. With a growing number of online degree programs for emergency management professionals, you have plenty of options for advancing your career in the emergency management field.

Although the traditional emergency management program is offered on campus, a growing number of community colleges offer an introductory emergency management degree program online. Students must typically earn 60 credits, whether completing a traditional emergency management degree program or earning an online emergency management degree.

Students may also have the option to earn either an associate of arts or an associate of science and to select from several degree variations, including emergency management and homeland security; fire and emergency management; and emergency and disaster management.

Core courses cover topics like disaster prevention, infrastructure planning, and communications. Students may need other work experience or degrees beyond their associate to obtain or advance careers in this field.

Earning an online emergency management degree can qualify you for a variety of entry level roles either in public service or in the private sector. This may include roles like emergency medical technician, first-responder, and Homeland Security agent. Student who wish to pursue leadership roles such as emergency management director or Certified emergency manager will likely need to earn a bachelor’s degree or a professional certification.

Online Emergency Management Programs Looking for You

There are many amazing options for getting your online associate’s degree! You could also get your associate’s in information systems, human services, or communications! Look into a plethora of options and then decide which one works best for you!

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require a time of adjustment. Although you’ll typically learn the same material and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, going online will require greater independence and responsibility than going in person. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, for harnessing the online educational technology that you’ll need to use, and for completing the course requirements, such as listening to lectures, learning lessons, reading texts, and handing in assignments. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take the initiative in building relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier than campus-based education is ease of access: all you need is a computer and an internet connection for online education. But even this seeming advantage of online education can be misleading: what’s easier, studying online with your computer and internet connection from your home where you need to cook, clean, pay rent, and maintain a job? Or studying on campus in a dorm where all your living needs are handled by the school, and college staff are there to help you every step of the way?

If you take the commute to campus out of the equation, campus-based education is easier. All the support structures available on campus for students, especially with real people to help you in person, are not there online. The demands on you as an online student will largely be the same as for your campus-based counterpart, but without the same helps.

In general, your online courses will present the same material and test you in the same way as traditional in-person courses. In many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning with remote educational technology for the first time, online college may be considerably more challenging than campus-based college. For a few insights on how to manage this new online experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable non-profit institutions on the one end and less-than-reputable for-profit institutions on the other end. Accreditation gives you the power to identify the more reputable actors in online education. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency indicating that a college or university is meeting standards of quality and credibility. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university that is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. For students seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that they opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree. For more on this important topic, check out our What is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter? College & University Accreditation Guide.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited (see the previous point), you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer of credits. In many cases, you will encounter some bureaucratic haggling in which some of your credits will be transferred and others may be refused. However, provided that you have attended an online school with recognized regional accreditation, you should be in good shape in transferring your credits earned online.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript, or resumé differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

Some employers may express the concern that because you did your degree online, you may need to transition from an online education experience to in-person workplace experience. But in an age of Covid, that concern seems much diminished. The fact is that much employment these days is remote. And collaboration increasingly happens online over Zoom. Many employers will therefore view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will be less than ideal for you (though depending on your circumstances, it may also be the only viable option).

While there is much in traditional campus-based education that can be substituted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing that can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual in-person classroom setting. As you transition to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face in getting the most out of your online classes is overcoming this difference between “real reality” and “virtual reality.” Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. Above all, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete at your own pace and on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

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Best Online Associate in Emergency Management 2025

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Online Associate in Emergency Management in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Best Online Associate in Emergency Management Degree Programs

Last Year’s Ranking:

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Arkansas State University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Eastern Kentucky University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Idaho State University

Online Degrees

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at St. Petersburg College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Central Texas College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Schoolcraft College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at College of Southern Idaho

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Granite State College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Bucks County Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Wake Technical Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Arizona Western College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Cape Fear Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Durham Technical Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Fayetteville Technical Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Paradise Valley Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Frederick Community College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Forsyth Technical Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Blue Ridge Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Lenoir Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Nash Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Southwest Virginia Community College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Coastal Carolina Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Emergency Management degree at Coastline Community College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Students with Emergency Management Degree

Crisis/Emergency/Disaster Management

Degree Level: Associate's

Career Salaries

Top Industries

Frequently Asked Questions About Emergency Management Degrees

Why get an associate in emergency management?

How long does it take to get an associate in emergency management?

Are there different variations of this degree?

What kinds of courses would I have to take to get an associate in emergency management?

What kinds of jobs can I get with an associate in emergency management?

Online Emergency Management Programs Looking for You

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

What can I expect from an online college course?+

Is online college easier than campus-based college?+

Why does accreditation matter in online college?+

Will I be able to transfer my online college degree?+

Will employers respect my online degree?+

What are the disadvantages of online classes?+