Table 70

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees¹
by Region and Geographic Division by Population Group
Number and Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants, 2008

Geographic region/division		Total (10,915 cities; population 193,548,068)	Group I (75 cities, 250,000 and over; population 55,781,739)	Group II (189 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population 27,940,012)	Group III (437 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population 29,817,070)	Group IV (807 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population 27,597,191)	Group V (1,807 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population 28,634,261)	Group VI (7,600 cities, under 10,000; population 23,777,795)	Total city agencies	2008 estimated city population	County² (3,254 agencies; population 92,689,393)	Total city and county agencies	2008 estimated total agency population	Suburban Areas³ (7,412 agencies; population 121,966,483)
TOTAL	Number of employees	581,504	203,685	69,458	68,260	64,319	69,817	105,965	10,915	193,548,068	442,724	14,169	286,237,461	475,575
TOTAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	3.7	2.5	2.3	2.3	2.4	4.5			4.8			3.9
NORTHEAST	Number of employees	148,946	63,711	9,727	16,191	18,715	19,836	20,766	2,448	43,249,515
NORTHEAST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	5.7	3.5	2.6	2.4	2.2	3.3
NEW ENGLAND	Number of employees	34,498	2,862	4,784	6,073	7,082	7,360	6,337	760	12,565,101
NEW ENGLAND	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	4.7	3.3	2.4	2.3	2.2	3.7
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Number of employees	114,448	60,849	4,943	10,118	11,633	12,476	14,429	1,688	30,684,414
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.7	5.7	3.6	2.8	2.4	2.2	3.2
MIDWEST	Number of employees	119,708	34,738	9,181	14,185	17,047	19,453	25,104	3,302	44,263,045
MIDWEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	3.9	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.2	3.4
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	86,804	26,719	6,306	10,101	13,594	13,987	16,097	2,072	31,160,435
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	4.1	2.4	2.1	2.1	2.3	3.4
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	32,904	8,019	2,875	4,084	3,453	5,466	9,007	1,230	13,102,610
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.5	3.2	2.1	1.7	2.0	2.2	3.4
SOUTH	Number of employees	195,204	53,130	31,148	21,343	18,261	23,603	47,719	3,817	57,241,561
SOUTH	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	3.2	2.8	2.7	2.8	3.0	6.3
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Number of employees	91,638	21,255	17,056	11,405	8,812	10,687	22,423	1,524	23,422,121
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.9	4.3	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.3	8.0
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	33,871	6,847	4,537	2,377	4,225	5,595	10,290	978	9,738,647
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	2.8	3.3	3.2	2.9	3.2	5.3
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	69,695	25,028	9,555	7,561	5,224	7,321	15,006	1,315	24,080,793
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.9	2.8	2.4	2.3	2.4	2.7	5.3
WEST	Number of employees	117,646	52,106	19,402	16,541	10,296	6,925	12,376	1,348	48,793,947
WEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.4	2.7	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.2	4.8
MOUNTAIN	Number of employees	40,986	17,802	6,176	4,698	3,990	2,501	5,819	583	15,768,765
MOUNTAIN	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	2.7	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.5	4.4
PACIFIC	Number of employees	76,660	34,304	13,226	11,843	6,306	4,424	6,557	765	33,025,182
PACIFIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.3	2.7	1.8	1.8	1.9	2.0	5.3

¹ Full-time law enforcement employees include civilians.
² The designation county is a combination of both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.
³ Suburban areas include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (see Data Declaration). Suburban areas exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.
NOTE: No 2008 police employee data were received for the state of West Virginia.

Data Declaration

Provides the methodology used in constructing this table and other pertinent information about this table.

Overview

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There was an average of 3.0 full-time law enforcement employees, including both sworn officers and civilians, per 1,000 inhabitants in U.S. cities in 2008.
In cities in the Northeast, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 3.4 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In the South, cities reported a rate of 3.4 full-time law enforcement employees per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the Midwest, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 2.7 per 1,000 inhabitants.
The rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 2.4 per 1,000 inhabitants in cities in the West.