Table 71

Full-time Law Enforcement Officers
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	County¹ (3,254 agencies; population 92,689,393)	Total city and county agencies	2008 estimated total agency population	Suburban Areas² (7,412 agencies; population 121,966,483)
TOTAL	Number of officers	449,896	156,445	52,273	52,341	50,650	55,767	82,420	10,915	193,548,068	258,673	14,169	286,237,461	309,689
TOTAL	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.3	2.8	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.9	3.5			2.8			2.5
NORTHEAST	Number of officers	119,002	47,705	8,054	13,395	15,690	16,695	17,463	2,448	43,249,515
NORTHEAST	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	4.2	2.9	2.2	2.0	1.9	2.8
NEW ENGLAND	Number of officers	28,247	2,213	3,929	5,178	5,850	5,989	5,088	760	12,565,101
NEW ENGLAND	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.2	3.7	2.7	2.1	1.9	1.8	3.0
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Number of officers	90,755	45,492	4,125	8,217	9,840	10,706	12,375	1,688	30,684,414
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	4.3	3.0	2.3	2.0	1.9	2.7
MIDWEST	Number of officers	98,163	29,689	7,425	11,318	13,435	15,624	20,672	3,302	44,263,045
MIDWEST	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.2	3.3	1.8	1.6	1.7	1.8	2.8
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of officers	72,070	23,779	5,134	8,031	10,717	11,213	13,196	2,072	31,160,435
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.3	3.7	1.9	1.7	1.7	1.8	2.8
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of officers	26,093	5,910	2,291	3,287	2,718	4,411	7,476	1,230	13,102,610
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.0	2.4	1.7	1.4	1.6	1.8	2.9
SOUTH	Number of officers	148,143	40,836	23,278	16,119	14,135	18,315	35,460	3,817	57,241,561
SOUTH	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	2.5	2.1	2.1	2.2	2.3	4.7
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Number of officers	69,370	15,846	12,756	8,517	6,939	8,473	16,839	1,524	23,422,121
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	3.2	2.2	2.2	2.4	2.6	6.0
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of officers	26,480	5,595	3,395	1,817	3,349	4,328	7,996	978	9,738,647
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	2.3	2.5	2.4	2.3	2.4	4.1
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of officers	52,293	19,395	7,127	5,785	3,847	5,514	10,625	1,315	24,080,793
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	2.2	2.1	1.8	1.8	1.8	2.0	3.7
WEST	Number of officers	84,588	38,215	13,516	11,509	7,390	5,133	8,825	1,348	48,793,947
WEST	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	1.7	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.6	3.4
MOUNTAIN	Number of officers	29,303	12,692	4,376	3,275	2,900	1,857	4,203	583	15,768,765
MOUNTAIN	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	1.9	2.0	1.5	1.5	1.6	1.9	3.2
PACIFIC	Number of officers	55,285	25,523	9,140	8,234	4,490	3,276	4,622	765	33,025,182
PACIFIC	Average number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants	1.7	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.5	3.7

¹ The designation county is a combination of both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.
² 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 Viriginia.

Data Declaration

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

Overview

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In 2008, there was an average of 2.3 full-time law enforcement officers per 1,000 inhabitants in the Nation’s cities.
In cities in the Northeast, the rate of full-time law enforcement officers was 2.8 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the South, the rate of full-time law enforcement officers was 2.6 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the Midwest, the rate of full-time law enforcement officers was 2.2 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the West, the rate of full-time law enforcement officers was 1.7 per 1,000 inhabitants.