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Table 74

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees

by Population Group

Percent Male and Female, 2017

Population group Total law
enforcement
employees
Percent law
enforcement
employees
Total
officers
Percent
officers
Total
civilians
Percent
civilians
Number
of
agencies
2017
estimated
population
Male Female Male Female Male Female
TOTAL AGENCIES: 956,941 73.2 26.8 670,279 87.5 12.5 286,662 39.6 60.4 13,128 281,979,640
TOTAL CITIES 542,639 75.4 24.6 422,869 87.5 12.5 119,770 32.8 67.2 10,058 193,187,549
GROUP I (250,000 and over) 203,398 71.9 28.1 155,692 83.2 16.8 47,706 34.9 65.1 79 60,607,956
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset) 111,593 70.6 29.4 84,979 81.9 18.1 26,614 34.3 65.7 11 27,835,810
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset) 51,377 74.7 25.3 39,808 85.0 15.0 11,569 39.4 60.6 23 17,010,028
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset) 40,428 72.0 28.0 30,905 84.6 15.4 9,523 31.2 68.8 45 15,762,118
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) 62,162 73.9 26.1 47,814 88.1 11.9 14,348 26.6 73.4 198 29,257,403
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) 61,566 76.1 23.9 47,850 89.6 10.4 13,716 29.2 70.8 431 30,031,331
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) 56,881 78.3 21.7 45,672 90.6 9.4 11,209 27.9 72.1 775 26,916,000
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) 58,891 79.5 20.5 47,866 91.4 8.6 11,025 27.7 72.3 1,609 25,660,537
GROUP VI (under 10,000) 99,741 79.0 21.0 77,975 90.1 9.9 21,766 39.3 60.7 6,966 20,714,322
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES 299,563 69.3 30.7 179,143 85.7 14.3 120,420 44.8 55.2 1,241 67,301,047
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES 114,739 72.6 27.4 68,267 92.1 7.9 46,472 44.0 56.0 1,829 21,491,044
SUBURBAN AREAS1 450,252 72.6 27.4 298,444 87.6 12.4 151,808 43.0 57.0 7,001 120,076,115
  • 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. 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, 2017

  • Nationwide in 2017, 87.5 percent of full-time law enforcement officers were males.
  • More than 60 percent (60.4) 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 (91.4) of male officers.
  • Cities with populations of 1 million and over (a subset of the total Group I cities) employed the highest percentage (18.1) 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 (73.4) of females.
  • Metropolitan county agencies had the highest percentage (44.8) of male full-time civilian law enforcement employees.