Table 70

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees¹
by Geographic Region and Division by Population Group
Number and Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants, 2005

Geographic region/division		Total (10,832 cities; population 187,432,928)	Group I (70 cities, 250,000 and over; population 53,583,154)	Group II (180 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population 27,066,683)	Group III (411 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population 28,032,707)	Group IV (769 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population 26,455,091)	Group V (1,791 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population 28,385,387)	Group VI (7,611 cities, under 10,000; population 23,909,906)	Total city agencies	2005 estimated city population	County² (3,459 agencies; population 91,767,689)	Total city and county agencies	2005 estimated total agency population	Suburban Area³ (7,354 agencies; population 118,418,670)
TOTAL	Number of employees	561,844	202,230	66,461	63,134	61,199	68,958	99,862	10,832	187,432,928	407,226	14,291	279,200,617	438,747
TOTAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	3.8	2.5	2.3	2.3	2.4	4.2			4.4			3.7
NORTHEAST	Number of employees	146,430	66,624	9,907	14,948	17,778	19,578	17,595	2,308	42,405,056
NORTHEAST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	6.0	3.3	2.5	2.4	2.2	2.9
NEW ENGLAND	Number of employees	32,921	2,663	4,660	5,957	6,669	7,421	5,551	772	12,586,682
NEW ENGLAND	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	4.7	3.2	2.4	2.3	2.2	3.1
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Number of employees	113,509	63,961	5,247	8,991	11,109	12,157	12,044	1,536	29,818,374
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.8	6.1	3.3	2.6	2.5	2.2	2.9
MIDWEST	Number of employees	120,861	37,075	10,221	14,533	15,682	19,825	23,525	3,224	44,574,925
MIDWEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	4.0	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.2	3.2
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	89,276	29,620	6,858	10,702	11,967	14,749	15,380	2,032	31,800,191
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	4.2	2.4	2.1	2.1	2.3	3.2
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	31,585	7,455	3,363	3,831	3,715	5,076	8,145	1,192	12,774,734
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.5	3.4	2.2	1.7	2.0	2.2	3.1
SOUTH	Number of employees	183,984	50,010	27,170	19,332	17,832	22,785	46,855	3,960	54,093,278
SOUTH	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	3.2	2.8	2.7	2.8	3.0	5.9
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Number of employees	88,179	21,355	13,919	10,404	8,813	11,011	22,677	1,723	22,428,114
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.9	4.4	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.3	7.2
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	31,940	6,255	4,895	1,994	3,843	5,048	9,905	948	9,108,421
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	2.9	3.3	3.1	2.8	3.1	5.3
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	63,865	22,400	8,356	6,934	5,176	6,726	14,273	1,289	22,556,743
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	2.6	2.4	2.3	2.4	2.6	5.0
WEST	Number of employees	110,569	48,521	19,163	14,321	9,907	6,770	11,887	1,340	46,359,669
WEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.4	2.7	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.2	4.6
MOUNTAIN	Number of employees	37,913	15,654	6,594	4,004	3,372	2,672	5,617	582	14,397,412
MOUNTAIN	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	2.9	2.2	2.0	2.2	2.5	4.3
PACIFIC	Number of employees	72,656	32,867	12,569	10,317	6,535	4,098	6,270	758	31,962,257
PACIFIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.3	2.6	1.8	1.8	1.9	2.0	4.8

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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In the U.S. in 2005, the average number of full-time law enforcement employees in cities (both sworn officers and civilian) was 3.0 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Within cities in the Northeast, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees per 1,000 inhabitants was 3.5.
Within cities in the South, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees per 1,000 inhabitants was 3.4.
Within cities in the Midwest, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees per 1,000 inhabitants was 2.7.
Within cities in the West, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees per 1,000 inhabitants was 2.4.