Table 70

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees¹
by Geographic Region and Division by Population Group
Number and Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants, 2006

Geographic region/division		Total (10,872 cities; population 189,942,258)	Group I (71 cities, 250,000 and over; population 53,957,412)	Group II (181 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population 27,081,536)	Group III (423 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population 29,029,089)	Group IV (788 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population 27,199,664)	Group V (1,818 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population 28,813,877)	Group VI (7,591 cities, under 10,000; population 23,860,680)	Total city agencies	2006 estimated city population	County² (3,464 agencies; population 93,296,402)	Total city and county agencies	2006 estimated total agency population	Suburban Area³ (7,438 agencies; population 121,334,744)
TOTAL	Number of employees	569,149	203,153	66,660	66,017	63,074	69,994	100,251	10,872	189,942,258	417,976	14,336	283,238,660	459,698
TOTAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.0	3.8	2.5	2.3	2.3	2.4	4.2			4.5			3.8
NORTHEAST	Number of employees	148,986	66,917	10,113	15,565	18,496	19,990	17,905	2,343	43,159,649
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	33,565	2,625	4,686	5,976	7,017	7,560	5,701	791	12,770,040
NEW ENGLAND	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	4.7	3.3	2.4	2.3	2.2	3.1
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Number of employees	115,421	64,292	5,427	9,589	11,479	12,430	12,204	1,552	30,389,609
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.8	6.1	3.4	2.6	2.4	2.2	2.9
MIDWEST	Number of employees	121,090	36,944	9,410	15,308	15,797	19,636	23,995	3,196	44,589,036
MIDWEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.7	4.0	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.2	3.3
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	88,817	29,340	6,021	10,919	12,447	14,377	15,713	2,007	31,598,623
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	4.2	2.3	2.2	2.1	2.2	3.3
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	32,273	7,604	3,389	4,389	3,350	5,259	8,282	1,189	12,990,413
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	187,552	51,229	27,521	20,152	18,584	23,594	46,472	3,989	55,491,842
SOUTH	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.4	3.2	2.9	2.8	2.8	3.0	5.9
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Number of employees	90,211	21,394	14,651	10,978	9,296	11,348	22,544	1,705	22,992,879
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.9	4.3	3.0	3.1	3.0	3.3	7.4
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	33,163	6,677	4,159	2,454	3,795	5,543	10,535	1,031	9,561,474
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	3.5	2.8	3.4	3.0	2.8	3.2	5.2
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Number of employees	64,178	23,158	8,711	6,720	5,493	6,703	13,393	1,253	22,937,489
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.8	2.6	2.4	2.3	2.4	2.6	4.8
WEST	Number of employees	111,521	48,063	19,616	14,992	10,197	6,774	11,879	1,344	46,701,731
WEST	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.4	2.7	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.1	4.6
MOUNTAIN	Number of employees	38,704	16,019	6,876	4,093	3,705	2,484	5,527	577	14,840,930
MOUNTAIN	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.6	2.9	2.1	2.0	2.2	2.4	4.3
PACIFIC	Number of employees	72,817	32,044	12,740	10,899	6,492	4,290	6,352	767	31,860,801
PACIFIC	Average number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants	2.3	2.7	1.8	1.8	1.9	2.0	5.0

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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There was an average of 3.0 full-time law enforcement employees, including both sworn officers and civilians, per 1,000 inhabitants in U.S. cities in 2006.
In cities in the Northeast, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 3.5 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the South in 2006, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 3.4 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In cities in the Midwest, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 2.7 per 1,000 inhabitants.
In 2006 in cities in the West, the rate of full-time law enforcement employees was 2.4 per 1,000 inhabitants.