An official website of the United States government. Here's how you know
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation

Table 74

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees

by Population Group

Percent Male and Female, 2015

Population group Total law
enforcement
employees		 Percent law
enforcement
employees		 Total
officers		 Percent
officers		 Total
civilians		 Percent
civilians 		Number
of
agencies		 2015
estimated
population
Male Female Male Female Male Female
TOTAL AGENCIES: 913,161 73.7 26.3 635,781 88.4 11.6 277,380 40.0 60.0 13,160 273,099,970
TOTAL CITIES 519,134 75.8 24.2 402,978 88.3 11.7 116,156 32.6 67.4 10,075 187,551,939
GROUP I (250,000 and over) 183,302 72.4 27.6 139,335 84.2 15.8 43,967 35.1 64.9 76 56,116,904
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset) 95,978 70.5 29.5 71,395 83.0 17.0 24,583 34.1 65.9 10 24,675,984
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset) 50,297 75.9 24.1 39,598 85.4 14.6 10,699 40.9 59.1 23 16,678,441
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset) 37,027 72.6 27.4 28,342 85.5 14.5 8,685 30.7 69.3 43 14,762,479
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) 63,094 73.7 26.3 48,159 88.2 11.8 14,935 26.9 73.1 195 28,956,838
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) 59,540 76.7 23.3 46,318 90.3 9.7 13,222 29.0 71.0 419 29,206,031
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) 56,074 78.1 21.9 44,803 90.9 9.1 11,271 27.0 73.0 764 26,443,466
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) 57,693 80.1 19.9 47,085 92.1 7.9 10,608 26.7 73.3 1,612 25,662,681
GROUP VI (under 10,000) 99,431 79.2 20.8 77,278 90.7 9.3 22,153 39.4 60.6 7,009 21,166,019
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES 280,343 70.2 29.8 165,764 87.0 13.0 114,579 45.8 54.2 1,238 63,774,885
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES 113,684 72.4 27.6 67,039 92.2 7.8 46,645 43.9 56.1 1,847 21,773,146
SUBURBAN AREAS1 429,617 73.3 26.7 283,285 88.6 11.4 146,332 43.6 56.4 7,034 116,427,469
  • 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

Download Printable Document

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, by Population Group, Percent Male and Female, 2015 

  • Nationwide in 2015, 88.4 percent of full-time law enforcement officers were males. 

  • Sixty percent 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 (92.1) of male officers. 

  • Cities with populations of 1 million and over (a subset of the total Group I cities) employed the highest percentage (17.0) of female officers. 

  • Regarding the nation’s full-time civilian law enforcement employees, cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants had the highest percentage (73.3) of females. 

  • Metropolitan county agencies had the highest percentage (45.8) of male full-time civilian law enforcement employees.