Table 70

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees¹
by Region and Geographic Division by Population Group
Number and Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants, 2009

Region/geographic division		Total (11,218 cities; population 195,945,107)	Group I (75 cities, 250,000 and over; population 56,942,042)	Group II (188 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population 27,843,405)	Group III (439 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population 29,972,217)	Group IV (815 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population 27,953,975)	Group V (1,839 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population 29,047,897)	Group VI (7,862 cities, under 10,000; population 24,185,571)	Total city agencies	2009 estimated city population	County² (3,396 agencies; population 93,472,364)	Total city and county agencies	2009 estimated total agency population	Suburban Areas³ (7,561 agencies; population 122,719,200)
TOTAL	Number of employees	584,672	206,064	67,620	67,603	64,238	70,228	108,919	11,218	195,945,107	436,784	14,614	289,417,471	471,235
TOTAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	3.6	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.4	4.5			4.7			3.8
NORTHEAST	Number of employees	151,716	64,615	9,687	16,159	18,881	20,248	22,126	2,555	44,463,787
NORTHEAST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	5.7	3.4	2.6	2.3	2.2	3.4
NEW ENGLAND	Number of employees	34,094	2,760	4,645	5,886	6,891	7,274	6,638	767	12,718,661
NEW ENGLAND	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	4.4	3.2	2.3	2.2	2.2	3.8
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Number of employees	117,622	61,855	5,042	10,273	11,990	12,974	15,488	1,788	31,745,126
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.7	5.7	3.7	2.7	2.4	2.2	3.3
MIDWEST	Number of employees	121,536	36,221	9,015	14,556	16,570	19,284	25,890	3,329	45,346,245
MIDWEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	3.7	2.2	2.0	2.1	2.2	3.5
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	88,596	28,177	6,120	10,470	13,110	13,888	16,831	2,105	32,243,478
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	3.9	2.3	2.1	2.1	2.2	3.4
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	32,940	8,044	2,895	4,086	3,460	5,396	9,059	1,224	13,102,767
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.5	3.1	2.1	1.7	2.0	2.2	3.5
SOUTH	Number of employees	192,563	52,258	29,507	20,382	18,880	23,655	47,881	3,945	56,670,646
SOUTH	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	3.2	2.8	2.7	2.8	3.1	6.2
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Number of employees	90,954	22,032	15,954	10,956	9,003	10,685	22,324	1,621	23,306,717
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.9	4.2	3.0	3.0	3.1	3.3	7.6
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	34,869	6,482	5,328	2,346	4,301	5,706	10,706	1,016	9,875,872
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	2.9	3.3	3.1	2.9	3.1	5.4
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	66,740	23,744	8,225	7,080	5,576	7,264	14,851	1,308	23,488,057
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	2.7	2.2	2.3	2.4	2.7	5.4
WEST	Number of employees	118,857	52,970	19,411	16,506	9,907	7,041	13,022	1,389	49,464,429
WEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.4	2.7	1.9	1.8	1.9	2.2	5.2
MOUNTAIN	Number of employees	42,897	18,788	6,466	4,751	3,737	2,625	6,530	625	16,208,175
MOUNTAIN	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	2.8	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.5	5.1
PACIFIC	Number of employees	75,960	34,182	12,945	11,755	6,170	4,416	6,492	764	33,256,254
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.

Data Declaration

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

Overview

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In 2009, U.S. cities reported an average of 3.0 full-time law enforcement employees, including both sworn officers and civilians, per 1,000 inhabitants.
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 full-time law enforcement employees that was 3.4 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 in cities in the West was 2.4 per 1,000 inhabitants.