State and Local Government Expenditures on Police Protection in the U.S., 2000-2017

• NCJ Number: 254856
• Author(s): Kevin M. Scott, PhD, BJS Statistician; Emily D. Buehler, PhD, BJS Statistician
• Date Published: July 2020
• Publication Series: Justice Expenditure and Employment
• Publication Type: Publication

Annotation

This report presents statistics on state and local expenditures on police protection from 2000 to 2017, based on data from BJS's Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts series.

Abstract

This report presents statistics on state and local expenditures on police protection from 2000 to 2017, based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts series. The tables show nominal (not inflation-adjusted) spending, inflation-adjusted spending, spending as a percentage of GDP, spending in the 25 largest cities, and how that spending has changed over time.

Highlights

• In nominal (not inflation-adjusted) dollars, state and local police-protection spending per capita was $351.54 in 2017.
• In nominal (not inflation-adjusted) dollars, local police-protection spending per capita was $304.18 in 2017.
• Of the 25 largest U.S. cities in 2017, 18 increased their real (inflation-adjusted) per capita expenditures on police protection between 2000 and 2017, with Austin, Texas showing the largest increase (up 77%) and San Diego, Calif. showing the largest decrease (down 27%).