There are about 2,330 chief local prosecutors in the United States, plus 93 United States Attorneys handling federal cases, for a combined total of roughly 2,425. That local figure comes from the most recent comprehensive federal survey of state court prosecutors and has stayed in the same range for decades because it tracks the number of counties and judicial districts, which rarely change dramatically. So when people ask how many district attorneys are there in the US, the honest answer depends on whether you mean local chief prosecutors, federal ones, or both together.
Why It’s Not Just One Per County
The U.S. has roughly 3,100 counties, so a one-per-county rule would produce a much bigger number. It doesn’t, because many states group smaller counties together under a single office. Every state divides its territory into prosecutorial jurisdictions and assigns one chief prosecutor to each, but the size of those jurisdictions varies. Texas runs close to the one-per-county model, with a district attorney or county attorney covering nearly all of its 254 counties. Other states combine several rural counties into a single judicial circuit with one prosecutor for the whole area.
State legislatures control where those lines fall. When a rural circuit grows too large for one office, the legislature can split it. When a small county can’t justify a standalone office, the legislature can merge it with a neighbor. Those adjustments happen slowly, which is why the national total sits near 2,330 year after year without dramatic swings.
The Same Job Under Different Titles
“District Attorney” is the most common title, but it isn’t universal, and the count includes officials who go by other names. Kentucky and Virginia use “Commonwealth’s Attorney.” Illinois, Maryland, Vermont, and several other states use “State’s Attorney.” Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska use “County Attorney.” Some jurisdictions simply say “County Prosecutor.” The job is the same in each case: deciding who gets charged with a crime and prosecuting those cases in court.
The people underneath the chief prosecutor are usually called Assistant District Attorneys or Deputy District Attorneys, and they do most of the daily courtroom work. Only the person at the top counts toward the 2,330 figure. A single office might employ several hundred attorneys in a major city, or two or three in a rural county, but each office still has one chief.
Elected in Most States, Appointed in a Few
About 97 percent of the 2,330 chief local prosecutors are elected. Three states handle it differently, and knowing which ones matters if you’re trying to identify who holds the role in a specific place.
- In New Jersey, the governor appoints county prosecutors.
- In Connecticut, state’s attorneys are appointed through a judicial selection process.
- Alaska has no local prosecutors at all. Everything runs through the state Attorney General’s office.
Everywhere else, the chief prosecutor answers directly to voters, usually on a four-year cycle. A handful of states set terms at two, five, or six years, but four years is the standard in more than 40 states, and most jurisdictions impose no term limits.
The 93 United States Attorneys
Federal prosecution runs on a completely separate track from the local system. The federal government has 93 United States Attorneys who prosecute federal crimes and represent the government in civil cases.1Offices of the United States Attorneys. About the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices There are 94 federal judicial districts, but Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands share a single U.S. Attorney, which is why the numbers don’t match.
The President appoints each U.S. Attorney with Senate confirmation, and they serve four-year terms.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 541 – United States Attorneys They answer to the Attorney General and follow Department of Justice priorities, not local voters. When a new administration takes office, most sitting U.S. Attorneys resign or are replaced. Their jurisdiction covers federal offenses like tax fraud, immigration violations, drug trafficking across state lines, and public corruption. They coordinate with local DAs but operate on entirely separate budgets, with their own investigators and courtrooms.
What Each of These Prosecutors Controls
Each of the roughly 2,425 chief prosecutors in the country holds the same core power: deciding whether to file criminal charges and which charges to bring. After police make an arrest, the case file goes to a prosecutor, who reviews the evidence, interviews witnesses, and decides whether the case is strong enough to move forward. For felonies, many jurisdictions require the prosecutor to present evidence to a grand jury, which then decides whether to issue an indictment.3United States Department of Justice. Charging
A chief prosecutor can decline to prosecute a case entirely, reduce the charges, or offer a plea deal in exchange for a guilty plea to a lesser offense. Many also set office-wide policies that shape local criminal justice, from diversion programs for low-level offenders to harder lines on gun offenses or retail theft. Those policy choices can differ dramatically between neighboring districts, which is one reason criminal justice outcomes vary so widely across the country even under identical state laws.
The Total, Put Together
Add the 93 U.S. Attorneys to the roughly 2,330 local chief prosecutors and the country has about 2,425 top-level prosecutors in total. The local count moves slightly as state legislatures redraw prosecutorial boundaries, and the exact figure in any given year depends on the most recent federal survey and any recent state-level consolidations or splits. But the ballpark has held steady for decades, and it isn’t likely to shift much unless states start redrawing county-based jurisdictions on a large scale.