Table 74

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees
by Population Group
Percent Male and Female, 2008

Population group	Total law enforcement employees	Percent law enforcement employees		Total officers	Percent officers		Total civilians	Percent civilians		Number of agencies	2008 estimated population
Population group	Total law enforcement employees	Male	Female	Total officers	Male	Female	Total civilians	Male	Female	Number of agencies	2008 estimated population
TOTAL AGENCIES:	1,024,228	72.8	27.2	708,569	88.1	11.9	315,659	38.4	61.6	14,169	286,237,461
TOTAL CITIES	581,504	75.0	25.0	449,896	88.1	11.9	131,608	30.2	69.8	10,915	193,548,068
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	203,685	70.9	29.1	156,445	83.0	17.0	47,240	30.8	69.2	75	55,781,739
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	109,612	69.5	30.5	84,091	81.8	18.2	25,521	29.2	70.8	10	25,543,437
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	54,659	73.5	26.5	42,616	84.0	16.0	12,043	36.4	63.6	24	16,218,619
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	39,414	71.2	28.8	29,738	85.2	14.8	9,676	28.2	71.8	41	14,019,683
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	69,458	72.8	27.2	52,273	88.1	11.9	17,185	26.3	73.7	189	27,940,012
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	68,260	75.9	24.1	52,341	90.5	9.5	15,919	27.8	72.2	437	29,817,070
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	64,319	77.8	22.2	50,650	91.4	8.6	13,669	27.2	72.8	807	27,597,191
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	69,817	79.1	20.9	55,767	92.2	7.8	14,050	26.9	73.1	1,807	28,634,261
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	105,965	79.2	20.8	82,420	91.3	8.7	23,545	37.1	62.9	7,600	23,777,795
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	308,179	69.1	30.9	179,079	86.4	13.6	129,100	45.1	54.9	1,201	65,844,305
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	134,545	71.8	28.2	79,594	92.0	8.0	54,951	42.5	57.5	2,053	26,845,088
SUBURBAN AREAS¹	475,575	72.5	27.5	309,689	88.5	11.5	165,886	42.6	57.4	7,412	121,966,483

¹ 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.

Nationwide in 2008, 88.1 percent of full-time law enforcement officers were males.
Of full-time civilian law enforcement employees, 61.6 percent were females.
Of the city population groups, cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants employed the highest percentage (92.2) of male officers.
Cities with populations of 1 million and over employed the highest percentage (18.2) of full-time female officers.
Cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants had the highest percentage (73.7) of female civilian law enforcement employees.
Metropolitan county agencies had the highest percentage (45.1) of full-time male civilian law enforcement employees.