Service demographics offer snapshot of force

7 Apr 2005 |

Air Force Personnel Center officials here recently published the quarterly demographics report offering a snapshot of the service's active-duty and civilian force, as of March 31.

More information can be found online at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/demographics/.

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

Active-Duty Demographics

-- 358,612 people are on active duty which is divided into 73,091 officers and 285,520 enlisted Airmen.

-- The Air Force has 13,729 pilots, 4,609 navigators, 1,312 air battle managers and 36,392 nonrated line officers in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below.

Age

-- The average age of Air Force officers is 35; for the enlisted Airmen it is 29.

-- 39.9 percent are younger than age 26, which is 46.7 percent of enlisted Airmen and 13 percent of officers.

Sex

-- There are 70,280 women in the Air Force, which is 19.6 percent of the force; 18.4 percent of officers and 19.9 percent of enlisted Airmen.

-- 60.7 percent of female officers are line officers; 39.3 percent are nonline. 85.2 percent of male officers are line officers; 14.8 percent are nonline

-- Women first began entering pilot training in 1976, navigator training in 1977 and fighter pilot training in July 1993. Currently there are 568 (4.1 percent) female pilots and 210 (4.6 percent) female navigators.

Race

The following percentages cover self-reported racial information:

-- 0.5 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native.

-- 2 percent are Asian.

-- 15.2 percent are black.

-- 0.5 percent are native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

-- 74.9 percent are white.

-- 1.2 percent are of 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 besides the above racial categories.

-- 7.9 percent are "Hispanic/Latino."

-- 89.7 percent are "not Hispanic/Latino."

-- 2.4 percent declined to respond.

Marital Status

-- 60.3 percent of the current force is married, which is 71.8 percent of officers and 57.4 percent of enlisted Airmen. There are 20,642 couples in the Air Force with both spouses in the military; 1,483 of these are married to members of other military services.

Family Members

-- Active-duty Airmen supported 546,305 family members 442,413 family members reside in an Airman’s household.

Overseas

-- 21.5 percent of Airmen are assigned overseas (including Alaska and Hawaii); 11,048 officers and 66,081 enlisted Airmen.

Total Active Federal Military Service

-- The average total active federal military service is 11 years for officers and 9 years for enlisted Airmen.

Academic Education

-- 32.2 percent of the officers have advanced or professional degrees; 25.7 percent have master's degrees, 5.9 percent have professional degrees and 0.6 percent have doctorate degrees.

-- 14.6 percent of company grade officers have advanced degrees; 10.3 percent have master's degrees, 4.1 percent have professional degrees and 0.2 percent have doctorate degrees.

-- 57.6 percent of field grade officers have advanced degrees; 47.9 percent have master's degrees, 8.4 percent have professional degrees and 1.2 percent have doctorate degrees.

-- 99.9 percent of enlisted Airmen have at least a high-school education; 75.3 percent have some semester hours toward a college degree; 16.8 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent semester hours; 3.1 percent have a bachelor's degree; and 0.3 percent have a master's degree.

Component

-- 39.9 percent of the officers have a regular commission; 40.1 percent of the line officers have a regular commission.

Developmental Education

-- 57.4 percent of the officers have completed one or more professional military education or developmental education course either in residence or by correspondence; 8,577 have completed at least one senior service school or senior developmental education course, 15,704 have completed an intermediate level course while 17,643 have completed Squadron Officer School.

Source of Commission

-- 18.9 percent of the officers were commissioned through the Air Force Academy, 41.9 percent through ROTC and 22.3 percent through Officer Training School; the remaining 16.9 percent were commissioned from other sources (direct appointment, etc.).

Civilian Employee Demographics

Total Civilian Strength

-- There are 141,245 civilian employees; 75.8 percent are "white collar" and 24.3 percent are "blue collar."

Citizenship

-- 131,926 are U.S. citizens including U.S. nationals (9,710 are Air Force reserve technicians); 9,314 are foreign employees; five are other non-U.S. employees in the U.S. or a U.S. territory.

Age

-- The average age of civilians is 46.5 years.

Length of Service

-- The average length of service for civilians is 16 years.

Gender

-- 34.6 percent of civilians are female, and 65.4 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.

-- 70.9 percent are Caucasian.

-- 11.3 percent are African American.

-- 7.2 percent are Hispanic.

-- 6 percent are another minority.

-- 4.6 percent are not reported.

Overseas

-- 11.2 percent of civilians are assigned overseas (15,789); 41 percent are U.S. citizens including U.S. nationals; 59 percent are local nationals.

Education

White Collar

-- 42 percent have a college degree; 15.3 percent have a master's degree and 1.6 percent have a doctorate; 25.8 percent have accumulated hours toward a bachelor's degree; 9.6 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent; 24.9 percent have at least a high-school education; 5.3 percent have less than a high school diploma.

Blue Collar

-- 4.4 percent of civilians 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; 56.5 percent have at least a high school education or equivalent; 11.2 percent have less than a high school diploma.

Developmental Education

-- 9,948 civilians have completed one or more military schools; 4,179 have completed Squadron Officer School; 4,246 have completed intermediate developmental education; 1,523 have completed senior developmental education.

Executive-Level Training

-- 509 employees have completed executive-level training; 43 Congressional fellowship programs; 408 executive and senior leadership; 35 public administration graduate school; 23 management graduate school. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service)