Service demographics offer snapshot of force

  • Published
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  The Air Force Personnel Center here recently published its quarterly demographics report offering a snapshot of the service's active-duty and civilian force, as of March 31.

More information can be found at the center's analysis branch website: www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/demographics/. 

Statistics rounded to nearest tenth. New U.S. government rules now provide Airmen the chance to associate themselves with multiple race groups.

Active-duty demographics

-- There are 347,521 people on active duty, of which 71,526 are officers and 275,995 are enlisted.
 
-- The Air Force has 13,648 pilots, 4,432 navigators, 1,370 air battle managers and 35,467 non-rated line officers in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below.

Age 

-- The average age of the officer force is 35; for the enlisted force it's 29.

-- Of the force, 39 percent are below the age of 26; 45.8 percent of enlisted are below 26 versus 12.8 percent of officers.

Gender

-- There are 68,347 women, which is 19.7 percent of the force -- 18.3 percent of officers and 20 percent of enlisted.

-- 60.6 percent of female officers are line officers and 39.4 percent are non-line; 85.5 percent of male officers are line officers and 14.5 percent are non-line.

-- There are 582 (4.3 percent) female pilots and 209 (4.7 percent) female navigators. Women first entered pilot training in 1976, navigator training in 1977 and fighter pilot training in July 1993.

Race

The following percentages cover self-reported racial information.

-- 0.6 percent are American Indian or Alaska native.
 
-- 2.2 percent are Asian.
 
-- 14.9 percent are black or African American.
 
-- 0.7 percent are native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

-- 74.5 percent are white.

-- 1.3 percent are from more than one of the categories.
 
-- 5.7 percent declined to respond.

Ethnicity

"Hispanic or Latino" is now considered an ethnic, not a racial, category that is registered separately and in addition to the above racial categories.

-- 8.63 percent of Airmen call themselves "Hispanic/Latino." 

-- 88.6 percent "not Hispanic/Latino." 

-- 2.8 percent declined to respond.

Marital status 

-- 60.6 percent of the force is married, which is 72.1 percent of the officers and 57.7 percent of the enlisted. There are 20,360 couples in the Air Force with both spouses in the military; of these, 1,387 of these are married to members of other military services.

Family members

-- Active-duty members supported 529,677 family members, and 429,747 family members reside in Airmen households.

Overseas

-- 21.5 percent of the force is assigned overseas (including Alaska and Hawaii); this includes 10,913 officers and 63,739 enlisted.

Total Active Federal Military Service
 
-- The average total active federal military service is 11 years for officers and 9 years for enlisted.

Academic education

-- 49.2 percent of the officers have advanced or professional degrees; 39.5 percent have master's degrees, 8.4 percent have professional degrees and 1.4 percent have doctorate degrees.
 
-- 23.1 percent of company grade officers have advanced degrees; 16.9 percent have master's degrees, 5.9 percent have professional degrees and 0.4 percent have doctorate degrees.

-- 86.1 percent of field grade officers have advanced degrees; 71.3 percent have master's degrees, 12.1 percent have professional degrees and 2.7 percent have doctorate degrees.

-- 99.9 percent of the enlisted force have at least a high school education; 73.5 percent have some semester hours towards a college degree; 15.9 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent semester hours; 4.6 percent have a bachelor's degree; 0.7 percent have a master's degree; and 0.01 percent have a doctorate degree.

Component

-- 45.3 percent of officers have a regular commission; 45.6 percent of line officers have a regular commission.

Developmental education
 
-- 57.5 percent of officers have completed one or more PME or developmental education course either in residence or by correspondence; 8,427 have completed at least one senior service school or senior developmental education course, 15,106 have completed an intermediate level course while 17,613 have completed Squadron Officer School.

Source of commission
 
-- 19.2 percent of the officers were commissioned through the Air Force Academy, 42.7 percent through Reserve Officer Training Corps and 21.7 percent through Officer Training School; the remaining 16.5 percent were commissioned from other sources (direct appointment, etc.).

Civilian employee demographics

-- There are 143,061 civilian employees; 76.1 percent are "white collar" and 23.9 percent are "blue collar."

Citizenship

-- 133,811 are U.S. citizens including U.S. nationals (9,803 are Air Force Reserve Technicians); 9,247 are foreign national employees and 3 are other non-U.S. employees in the U.S. or a U.S. territory.

Age
 
-- The average age of civilians is 46.6 years.

Length of service
 
-- The average length of service of civilians is 15.8 years.

Gender

-- 34.1 percent of civilians are female and 65.9 percent are male.

Race/ethnic group
 
The following percentages cover self-reported Air Force civilian employees' racial/ethnic information. Civilian Air Force employees continue to report using previous categories.

-- 70.6 percent are Caucasian.
 
-- 11.5 percent are African American.
 
-- 7.2 percent are Hispanic.
 
-- 6 percent are another minority.
 
-- 4.7 percent are not reported.

Overseas

-- 10.9 percent of the total civilian work force are assigned overseas (15,617); 40.8 percent are U.S. citizens including U.S. nationals and 59.2 percent are local nationals.

White collar education

-- 43.1 percent have a college degree; 16.1 percent have a master's and 1.6 percent have a doctorate; 25.1 percent have accumulated hours toward a bachelor's degree; 9.8 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent; 25.1 percent have at least a high school education and 5.1 percent have less than a high school diploma.

Blue collar education

-- 4.5 percent have a college degree; 0.3 percent have a master's degree; 27.2 percent have accumulated hours toward a bachelor's degree; 9.5 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent; 56.4 percent have at least a high school education or equivalent and 11.4 percent have less than a high school diploma.

Developmental education 

-- 10,347 civilian employees have completed one or more military schools, of which 4,445 have completed Squadron Officer School, 4,229 have completed intermediate developmental education and 1,673 have completed senior developmental education.

Executive-level training
 
-- 507 employees have completed executive-level training, 43 congressional fellowship programs, 412 executive and senior leadership, 38 public administration graduate school and 14 management graduate school.

(Courtesy of Air Force Personnel Center News Service)