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Table 74

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees

by Population Group

Percent Male and Female, 2014

Population group Total law
enforcement
employees
Percent law
enforcement employees
Total
officers
Percent officers Total
civilians
Percent civilians Number
of
agencies
2014
estimated
population
Male Female Male Female Male Female
TOTAL AGENCIES: 899,212 73.5 26.5 627,949 88.1 11.9 271,263 39.9 60.1 12,656 268,296,362
TOTAL CITIES 519,535 75.7 24.3 403,984 88.0 12.0 115,551 32.6 67.4 9,792 183,432,062
GROUP I (250,000 and over) 191,314 72.3 27.7 146,606 83.6 16.4 44,708 35.3 64.7 72 55,946,176
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset) 108,493 71.0 29.0 82,247 82.4 17.6 26,246 35.4 64.6 11 27,023,807
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset) 48,522 75.3 24.7 38,212 85.0 15.0 10,310 39.1 60.9 22 15,514,245
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset) 34,299 72.4 27.6 26,147 85.5 14.5 8,152 30.4 69.6 39 13,408,124
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) 62,974 73.5 26.5 47,991 88.1 11.9 14,983 26.5 73.5 192 28,478,947
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) 57,298 76.7 23.3 44,551 90.4 9.6 12,747 28.9 71.1 405 28,000,451
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) 53,585 78.4 21.6 42,884 91.1 8.9 10,701 27.4 72.6 729 25,123,097
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) 56,825 79.7 20.3 46,181 92.0 8.0 10,644 26.7 73.3 1,579 25,167,878
GROUP VI (under 10,000) 97,539 79.2 20.8 75,771 90.7 9.3 21,768 39.0 61.0 6,815 20,715,513
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES 281,663 69.7 30.3 165,142 86.7 13.3 116,521 45.6 54.4 1,139 63,564,804
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES 98,014 73.1 26.9 58,823 92.3 7.7 39,191 44.4 55.6 1,725 21,299,496
SUBURBAN AREAS1 427,326 72.9 27.1 279,954 88.4 11.6 147,372 43.4 56.6 6,730 114,360,957
  • 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.

Data Declaration

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

Overview

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Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, by Population Group, Percent Male and Female, 2014 

  • Nationwide in 2014, 88.1 percent of full-time law enforcement officers were males. 

  • More than 60 percent (60.1) of full-time civilian law enforcement employees were females. 

  • Of the city population groups, cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants employed the highest percentage (92.0) of male officers. 

  • Cities with populations of 1 million and over (a subset of the total Group I cities) employed the highest percentage (17.6) of female officers. 

  • Regarding the nation’s full-time civilian law enforcement employees, cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants had the highest percentage (73.5) of females. 

  • Metropolitan county agencies had the highest percentage (45.6) of male full-time civilian law enforcement employees.