Despite the familiar sight of police in our communities, a closer look at the nearly 700,000 officers serving across the nation reveals a complex tapestry of demographics, budgets, and public trust that shapes modern law enforcement.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022, the United States had approximately 697,195 full-time sworn law enforcement officers across nearly 18,000 agencies
- As of 2021, women comprised 12.6% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments
- Black or African American officers made up 12.5% of full-time sworn personnel in local police departments in 2021
- In FY2022, total US police expenditures reached $122.3 billion
- Police spending accounted for 9% of city general expenditures in 2022
- From 2017-2022, police funding in large cities increased by 4.6% nominally
- In 2022, police made 7.6 million arrests nationwide
- Drug abuse violations accounted for 1.1 million arrests or 15% of total in 2022
- There were 549,136 arrests for violent crimes in 2022
- From 2015-2022, police use of force incidents resulted in 8,000 civilian deaths
- In 2022, 1,176 people were killed by police in the US
- Black Americans were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than whites in 2022
- In 2023 Gallup poll, 51% of Americans confident in local police, up from 48% in 2022
- 66% of white Americans trust police a great deal/fair amount in 2023, vs 36% Black
- 42% of Americans satisfied with police honesty in 2022 Pew survey
This blog post provides demographic, funding, and public opinion statistics about American policing.
Arrests and Enforcement Activities
- In 2022, police made 7.6 million arrests nationwide
- Drug abuse violations accounted for 1.1 million arrests or 15% of total in 2022
- There were 549,136 arrests for violent crimes in 2022
- Property crime arrests totaled 846,000 in 2022, representing 11% of total arrests
- DUI arrests numbered 803,000 in 2022
- 69% of all arrests in 2022 were of adults aged 18 and over
- Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter arrests were 8,757 in 2022
- Aggravated assault arrests reached 248,300 in 2022
- Larceny-theft arrests totaled 522,000 in 2022
- 456,220 arrests for drug violations occurred in 2021, down from previous years
- Traffic arrests were 1.2 million in 2022
- Robbery arrests numbered 38,000 in 2022
- 27% of arrests were for crimes against persons in 2022
- Burglary arrests were 92,000 in 2022
- Weapons violation arrests totaled 164,000 in 2022
- In 2022, 10.4 million arrests were estimated including unreported agencies
- Rape arrests were 13,200 in 2022
- Vagrancy arrests numbered 22,000 in 2022
- 81% of murder arrests were male offenders in 2022
- Motor vehicle theft arrests were 67,000 in 2022
- Under 18-year-olds accounted for 5% of all arrests in 2022
- Simple assaults led with 603,000 arrests in 2022
- Forgery and counterfeiting arrests were 37,000 in 2022
- 73% of violent crime arrests were adults in 2022
- Arson arrests totaled 6,800 in 2022
- Sex offenses (except rape) arrests were 40,000 in 2022
- In 2021, police conducted 21 million traffic stops
- Fraud arrests numbered 85,000 in 2022
- 15% of arrests involved drug possession only in 2022
- Embezzlement arrests were 11,000 in 2022
Arrests and Enforcement Activities Interpretation
The landscape of American law enforcement in 2022 reveals a nation grappling most frequently with traffic stops and drug violations, yet haunted most profoundly by the stark, though relatively few, arrests for murder and rape.
Budget and Funding
- In FY2022, total US police expenditures reached $122.3 billion
- Police spending accounted for 9% of city general expenditures in 2022
- From 2017-2022, police funding in large cities increased by 4.6% nominally
- New York City allocated $11.3 billion to NYPD in FY2023
- Federal funding for law enforcement grants totaled $1.8 billion in FY2022 via COPS
- Average police budget per officer was $185,000 in large US cities in 2022
- Salaries and wages comprised 42% of police budgets in cities over 1 million in 2022
- Overtime pay for police rose 27% from 2018-2022 in major cities
- State and local governments spent $115 billion on police protection in 2020
- Police funding increased 11% adjusted for inflation from 2016-2022 in 100 largest cities
- COPS Hiring Program awarded $139 million to hire 1,476 officers in FY2022
- Pensions for police officers cost states $40 billion annually as of 2021
- 25% of police budgets in small cities went to equipment in 2021
- Los Angeles PD budget was $1.85 billion in FY2023
- Federal Byrne JAG grants distributed $380 million for law enforcement in FY2022
- Police salaries averaged $72,200 nationally in 2022
- Benefits added 35% to police compensation costs in 2021
- Capital spending on police facilities was $5.2 billion in 2020
- Minneapolis police budget rose 12% post-2020 despite defund talks
- 68% of police budgets were personnel costs in mid-sized cities 2022
- Chicago PD budget hit $2.1 billion in 2023
- Military equipment transfers via 1033 program valued $7.4 billion from 2006-2020
- Training budgets averaged $1,200 per officer annually in 2021
- Philadelphia PD allocated $840 million in FY2023
- Nationwide police overtime expenditures totaled $3.5 billion in 2021
- In 2022, law enforcement agencies received $1.2 billion in asset forfeiture funds
- Houston PD budget was $1.4 billion for FY2023
Budget and Funding Interpretation
America keeps writing a very large, very serious check to the police, but the overtime charges suggest we’re not exactly getting a bulk discount on public safety.
Officer Demographics and Employment
- In 2022, the United States had approximately 697,195 full-time sworn law enforcement officers across nearly 18,000 agencies
- As of 2021, women comprised 12.6% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments
- Black or African American officers made up 12.5% of full-time sworn personnel in local police departments in 2021
- The average age of full-time sworn officers in local police departments was 41 years in 2021
- Hispanic or Latino officers represented 18.1% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments in 2021
- In 2020, there were 18,396 state and local law enforcement agencies in the US reporting to the FBI's UCR program
- Full-time sworn officers increased by 1.2% from 2019 to 2020 in sheriff's offices
- In 2021, 73% of local police departments were located in cities with populations under 10,000
- The ratio of full-time sworn officers to 1,000 residents was 2.4 nationally in 2020
- Asian officers accounted for 1.7% of full-time sworn personnel in municipal police departments in 2021
- In 2019, 84% of local police departments had 50 or fewer full-time sworn officers
- Female officers in sheriff's offices rose to 11.5% in 2020 from 10.8% in 2016
- In 2021, the median years of service for full-time sworn officers was 11 years
- Tribal police agencies employed 3,100 full-time sworn officers in 2020
- 65% of full-time sworn officers had some college education or higher in 2021 local police departments
- Rural counties had 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents in 2020, compared to 2.6 in suburban areas
- In 2022, New York City Police Department had 35,881 officers, the largest in the US
- 7.3% of officers were under 25 years old in local police departments in 2021
- Special jurisdiction agencies had 49,000 full-time sworn officers in 2020
- 25% of local police departments reported officer shortages in 2021 surveys
- In 2018, 14.4% of sworn officers were female across all agencies
- Local police departments authorized 449,000 full-time personnel in 2019
- 42% of officers had bachelor's degrees or higher in 2021
- Sheriff's offices in the West had the highest officer-to-population ratio at 2.8 per 1,000 in 2020
- 2.1% of full-time sworn officers were Native American or Alaska Native in 2021
- Chicago PD had 11,836 sworn officers in 2022
- 18% of agencies reported hiring more than 10 new officers in 2021
- Full-time sworn officers totaled 780,000 including all levels in 2020
- 30.4% of officers were aged 40-49 in local departments in 2021
Officer Demographics and Employment Interpretation
Despite an army of nearly 700,000 officers, American policing remains a predominantly older, male, and locally fragmented profession, slowly inching toward greater diversity while grappling with persistent staffing shortages and a wide disparity in community resources.
Public Trust and Perceptions
- In 2023 Gallup poll, 51% of Americans confident in local police, up from 48% in 2022
- 66% of white Americans trust police a great deal/fair amount in 2023, vs 36% Black
- 42% of Americans satisfied with police honesty in 2022 Pew survey
- 81% of Republicans confident in police in 2023, vs 28% Democrats
- Only 33% of Black Americans rate local police performance as excellent/good in 2023
- 56% approval of local law enforcement in 2023 Harvard CAPS poll
- Trust in police dropped to 45% nationally post-2020 George Floyd
- 62% of Americans say police treat whites better than minorities in 2022
- 75% support more police funding in high-crime neighborhoods 2023
- 47% of young adults (18-29) confident in police 2023 Gallup
- 89% of Americans want police to spend same/more time in communities 2021
- Satisfaction with police response times at 68% in 2022 surveys
- 26% of Black Americans trust police to treat them fairly in 2023
- 70% believe police make communities safer per 2023 poll
- Urban residents trust police at 48% in 2023, vs 60% rural
- 55% approve of police handling protests in 2022
- 64% say police respect people's rights in 2023 NAPO poll
- Only 38% of Democrats have high confidence in police 2023
- 92% of Americans rank police among top respected professions 2023
- 49% satisfied with police protection in neighborhoods 2022
- Hispanic trust in police at 52% in 2023 Gallup
- 67% support qualified immunity for officers 2023 poll
- 59% say more police needed in most communities 2023
- Trust rebound to 51% in 2023 from 48% low in 2022
- 71% of Americans want police focused on serious crimes 2021
- 45% rate local police performance positively in 2023 Pew
Public Trust and Perceptions Interpretation
The statistics paint a portrait of a nation that simultaneously respects its police as an institution, depends on them for safety, and yet harbors a deep, persistent, and often racialized skepticism about whether that institution will treat all of its citizens fairly.
Use of Force Incidents
- From 2015-2022, police use of force incidents resulted in 8,000 civilian deaths
- In 2022, 1,176 people were killed by police in the US
- Black Americans were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than whites in 2022
- 97% of police killings from 1980-2022 did not result in officer charges
- Tasers were used in 1% of police-public interactions in 2021
- 24% of people killed by police in 2022 were Black, despite being 13% of population
- Police used firearms in 94% of fatal force incidents in 2022
- From 2013-2022, 30% of police killings involved mental health crises
- Non-lethal force was reported in 2% of contacts in 2021 BJS survey
- 1,096 police killings occurred in 2021
- Officers were killed by gunfire 60 times in 2022
- 15% of deadly force victims were fleeing in 2022
- Chokeholds and neck restraints used in 5% of force incidents pre-2020 bans
- 78% of police shooting victims were armed in 2022 WaPo data
- Police dogs bitten 1,000+ people annually pre-2020
- Less-lethal munitions like rubber bullets used 2,000+ times in 2020 protests
- 26 unarmed people killed by police in 2022
- Force complaints sustained in only 8% of cases in 2021
- Pepper spray deployed in 1.5% of use-of-force reports 2015-2020
- 55% of fatal police encounters involved vehicle pursuits 2015-2022
- Body cameras captured 65% of use-of-force incidents in equipped depts 2021
- Native Americans killed by police at 3x rate of population share in 2022
- 40% of police killings had no body camera footage in 2022
- Electrical weapons like Tasers caused 1,150 deaths since 2001
- Hands-on physical force used in 22% of traffic stops 2021
- 12 people killed by police per million in 2022
Use of Force Incidents Interpretation
These sobering numbers reveal a system where the badge too often becomes a casket, accountability is a statistical ghost, and communities of color bear a disproportionate weight of the tragedy.
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