Table 70

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees¹
by Geographic Region and Division by Population Group
Number and Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants, 2007

Geographic region/division		Total (11,112 cities; population 192,561,315)	Group I (71 cities, 250,000 and over; population 53,815,350)	Group II (181 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population 27,270,252)	Group III (441 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population 30,331,106)	Group IV (806 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population 27,684,136)	Group V (1,826 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population 28,984,708)	Group VI (7,787 cities, under 10,000; population 24,475,763)	Total city agencies	2007 estimated city population	County² (3,564 agencies; population 93,305,151)	Total city and county agencies	2007 estimated total agency population	Suburban Area³ (7,594 agencies; population 121,917,604)
TOTAL	Number of employees	581,888	203,771	69,425	68,944	64,503	70,372	104,873	11,112	192,561,315	436,066	14,676	285,866,466	471,974
TOTAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	3.8	2.5	2.3	2.3	2.4	4.3			4.7			3.9
NORTHEAST	Number of employees	152,818	67,591	9,718	16,176	19,270	20,427	19,636	2,493	43,947,553
NORTHEAST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	6.1	3.5	2.6	2.4	2.2	3.0
NEW ENGLAND	Number of employees	33,940	2,810	4,750	5,945	7,051	7,635	5,749	781	12,758,757
NEW ENGLAND	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	4.7	3.3	2.4	2.3	2.2	3.2
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Number of employees	118,878	64,781	4,968	10,231	12,219	12,792	13,887	1,712	31,188,796
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.8	6.2	3.6	2.7	2.4	2.2	3.0
MIDWEST	Number of employees	121,342	34,569	10,247	15,133	16,740	19,755	24,898	3,329	44,647,528
MIDWEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	4.1	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.2	3.3
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	88,225	26,860	6,884	10,811	13,252	14,369	16,049	2,105	31,540,465
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	4.4	2.4	2.2	2.1	2.3	3.2
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	33,117	7,709	3,363	4,322	3,488	5,386	8,849	1,224	13,107,063
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.5	3.5	2.2	1.7	2.0	2.2	3.3
SOUTH	Number of employees	191,213	49,383	30,682	21,858	17,980	23,246	48,064	3,936	55,919,547
SOUTH	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	3.2	3.0	2.7	2.8	3.0	6.1
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Number of employees	91,090	20,922	15,994	11,830	8,959	10,640	22,745	1,657	23,340,872
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.9	4.4	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.3	7.5
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	33,105	6,843	4,163	2,324	3,744	5,516	10,515	995	9,460,010
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	2.9	3.4	3.0	2.9	3.1	5.3
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	67,018	21,618	10,525	7,704	5,277	7,090	14,804	1,284	23,118,665
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.9	2.6	2.7	2.3	2.5	2.7	5.2
WEST	Number of employees	116,515	52,228	18,778	15,777	10,513	6,944	12,275	1,354	48,046,687
WEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.4	2.8	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.1	4.8
MOUNTAIN	Number of employees	40,916	18,419	5,759	4,352	4,108	2,546	5,732	587	15,300,745
MOUNTAIN	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	2.9	2.2	2.0	2.2	2.5	4.5
PACIFIC	Number of employees	75,599	33,809	13,019	11,425	6,405	4,398	6,543	767	32,745,942
PACIFIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.3	2.7	1.8	1.8	1.9	2.0	5.1

¹ Full-time law enforcement employees include civilians.
² The designation county is a combination of both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.
³ Suburban area includes 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 area excludes 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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There were 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 2007.
In cities in the Northeast, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 3.5 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the South, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees 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.
In cities in the West, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 2.4 per 1,000 inhabitants.