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State Fact Sheets: Alaska

Population, Income, Education, and Employment
Farm Characteristics
Farm Financial Indicators
Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
About the State Fact Sheets

Data updated October 21, 2009

Data Download
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Questions & Answers
Excel file AK-fact-sheet.xls

Population, Income, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 155,621 246,230 401,851
    1990 206,302 343,741 550,043
    2000 224,487 402,445 626,932
    2008 (latest estimates) 223,622 462,671 686,293

More information on Alaska population
County-level Population Data
Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room
• Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2007 dollars)
    2006 35,801 41,221 39,436
    2007 36,667 41,685 40,042
    Percent change 4.8 2.3 3.1
 
Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
    2006 44,840 53,651 50,602
    2007 45,701 53,535 50,830
    Percent change 3.8 -0.4 0.9
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 14.6 8.3 10.7
    1989 11.6 7.5 9.0
    1999 11.9 8.0 9.4
    2007 (latest model-based estimates) 13.0 8.2 9.8

More information on Alaska poverty rates
County-level Poverty Data
Rural Income, Poverty, and Welfare Briefing Room
• See important notes about decennial and model-based intercensal poverty estimates
• Contact Tracey Farrigan, 202-694-5489

Education (Persons 25 and older)
  Rural * Urban * Total
Percent not completing high school
    1980 25.5 12.5 17.5
    1990 19.0 10.0 13.4
    2000 15.2 9.7 11.7
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 37.0 40.1 38.9
    1990 31.9 26.9 28.7
    2000 32.1 25.5 27.9
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 19.4 24.5 22.6
    1990 30.2 37.6 34.9
    2000 32.1 37.8 35.7
 
Percent completing college
    1980 18.2 22.8 21.1
    1990 18.9 25.5 23.0
    2000 20.7 27.0 24.7

More information on Alaska education
County-level Education Data
Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Robert Gibbs, 202-694-5423

Employment
  Rural * Urban * Total
Total number of jobs
    2006 152,183 287,704 439,887
    2007 153,647 291,384 445,031
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2007 7.7 5.4 6.2
    2008 8.3 5.9 6.7

More information on Alaska unemployment rates
County-level Unemployment and Median Household Income Data
Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Lorin Kusmin, 202-694-5429
 
Percent employment change
    2005-2006 1.0 2.4 1.9
    2006-2007 1.5 0.8 1.0
    2007-2008 0.6 1.2 1.0
 

* Urban and rural (metro and nonmetro) definitions are based on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) June 2003 classification. See Measuring Rurality: New Definitions in 2003 for more information.
 
More information on socioeconomic conditions
Rural Emphasis Page
• Contact Tim Parker, 202-694-5435.


Farm Characteristics

1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture
 
  1997 2002 2007
Approximate total land area (acres) 365,039,087 366,048,788 366,013,154
    Total farmland (acres) 881,045 900,715 881,585
        Percent of total land area 0.2 0.2 0.2
 
        Cropland (acres) 94,810 98,131 86,238
            Percent of total farmland 10.8 10.9 9.8
            Percent in pasture 8.2 9.1 8.2
            Percent irrigated 2.8 0.0  
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 34,227 31,824 30,772
 
        Woodland (acres) 110,916 42,244 41,698
            Percent of total farmland 12.6 4.7 4.7
            Percent in pasture 68.6 13.8 10.2
 
        Pastureland (acres) 655,852 730,478 737,746
            Percent of total farmland 74.4 81.1 83.7
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)
19,467 29,862 15,903
            Percent of total farmland 2.2 3.3 1.8
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)
25,400 29,175 28,298
 
Average farm size (acres) 1,608 1,479 1,285
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 45.4 51.7 59.2
            100 to 499 acres 38.1 32.2 27.7
            500 to 999 acres 6.0 6.7 5.5
            1000 to 1,999 acres 4.7 4.8 3.5
            2,000 or more acres 5.7 4.6 4.1
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 59.9 59.4 58.7
            $10,000 to $49,999 26.1 23.3 23.2
            $50,000 to $99,999 5.5 5.6 6.9
            $100,000 to $499,999 7.5 9.2 8.5
            More than $500,000 1.1 2.5 2.8
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 332 431 492
            Percent of total 60.6 70.8 71.7
 
        Part owner (farms) 136 92 110
            Percent of total 24.8 15.1 16.0
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 80 86 84
            Percent of total 14.6 14.1 12.2
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)
458 497 550
            Percent of total 83.6 81.6 80.2
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)
21 27 43
            Percent of total 3.8 4.4 6.3
 
        Partnerships (farms) 43 30 42
            Percent of total 7.8 4.9 6.1
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 15 9 9
            Percent of total 2.7 1.5 1.3
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)
11 46 42
            Percent of total 2.0 7.6 6.1
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 53.3 55.2 56.2
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation
55.8 60.8 53.2
        Men 453 492 518
        Women 95 117 168
 

More information on farm characteristics
Census of Agriculture
• Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540.


Farm Financial Indicators

Farm income and value added data
  2007 2008
 
Number of farms 680 680
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 27,347 24,131
+     Final animal output 6,677 5,083
+     Services and forestry 7,759 9,141
=   Final agricultural sector output 41,782 38,355
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 21,416 22,683
+     Net government transactions 2,126 3,008
=   Gross value added 22,492 18,680
 
-      Capital consumption 6,555 6,933
 
=   Net value added 15,937 11,747
 
-    Factor payments 6,799 6,553
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 5,647 5,504
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords -778 -807
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 1,930 1,856
 
=   Net farm income 9,138 5,194
 

More information on farm income
Farm Income Data
Farm Income and Costs Briefing Room
• Contact Roger Strickland, 202-694-5592.

Farm balance sheet
 
• Estimation of State-level Balance Sheets has been suspended. See the Farm Balance Sheet data page for more information.
 


Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties

Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2008
  Value of receipts
thousand $
Percent of state total
farm receipts
Percent of US value
1. Greenhouse/nursery 15,000 48.0 0.1
2. Hay 3,465 11.1 0.0
3. Potatoes 2,719 8.7 0.1
4. Cattle and calves 1,877 6.0 0.0
5. Dairy products 1,392 4.5 0.0
 
All commodities 31,241   0.0
 

More information on Alaska's top agriculture commodities
Leading commodities for cash receipts in a text file
• Contact Ted Covey, 202-694-5344.

Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2008
  Rank among states Value
million $
1. Other 48 3.5
2. Seeds 49 0.7
3. Feed grains and products 43 0.2
4. Live animals and meat 48 0.2
5. Hides and skins 44 0.0
 
Overall rank 50 4.6
 

More information on agricultural exports
State Export Data
Agricultural Trade Briefing Room
• Contact Nora Brooks, 202-694-5211.

Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2007
  Percent of state total receipts Thousands $
1. Anchorage Municipality 55.7 31,752
2. Juneau City and Borough 20.6 11,770
3. Fairbanks North Star Borough 12.4 7,075
4.      
5.      
 
State total   57,019
 

More information on agricultural sales
Census of Agriculture
• Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540.


Data Sources

Prepared by Economic Research Service, USDA, Washington, DC.

For more information, contact: Tim Parker
Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
Updated date: October 21, 2009