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Table 74

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees

by Population Group

Percent Male and Female, 2019

Population group Total law
enforcement
employees
Percent law
enforcement
employees
Total
officers
Percent
officers
Total
civilians
Percent
civilians
Number
of
agencies
2019
estimated
population
Male Female Male Female Male Female
TOTAL AGENCIES: 1,003,270 72.8 27.2 697,195 87.2 12.8 306,075 40.1 59.9 13,247 288,357,597
TOTAL CITIES 569,819 75.0 25.0 443,173 87.0 13.0 126,646 32.9 67.1 10,247 196,900,226
GROUP I (250,000 and over) 209,882 71.5 28.5 160,606 82.8 17.2 49,276 34.9 65.1 85 62,520,440
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset) 112,875 70.5 29.5 85,902 81.5 18.5 26,973 35.4 64.6 11 27,806,004
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset) 55,379 73.4 26.6 42,605 84.5 15.5 12,774 36.6 63.4 26 18,452,421
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset) 41,628 71.9 28.1 32,099 84.0 16.0 9,529 30.9 69.1 48 16,262,015
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) 64,904 73.8 26.2 49,987 87.6 12.4 14,917 27.3 72.7 207 30,396,345
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) 61,893 75.3 24.7 48,113 88.5 11.5 13,780 29.1 70.9 427 29,799,314
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) 57,795 77.8 22.2 46,485 89.9 10.1 11,310 28.2 71.8 788 27,147,744
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) 61,106 78.8 21.2 49,861 90.6 9.4 11,245 26.5 73.5 1,644 26,146,921
GROUP VI (under 10,000) 114,239 78.4 21.6 88,121 90.0 10.0 26,118 39.2 60.8 7,096 20,889,462
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES 310,337 69.4 30.6 182,053 85.9 14.1 128,284 45.9 54.1 1,208 69,763,099
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES 123,114 71.7 28.3 71,969 92.0 8.0 51,145 43.2 56.8 1,792 21,694,272
SUBURBAN AREAS1 468,532 72.4 27.6 307,028 87.4 12.6 161,504 43.8 56.2 7,079 123,692,820
  • 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, 2019

  • Nationwide in 2019, 87.2 percent of full-time law enforcement officers were males.
  • Nearly 60 percent (59.9) 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 (90.6) of male officers.
  • Cities with populations of 1 million and over (a subset of the total Group I cities) employed the highest percentage (18.5) 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 (72.7) of females.
  • Metropolitan county agencies had the highest percentage (45.9) of male full-time civilian law enforcement employees.