Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Delaware

• 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
Need help?
Questions & Answers
Excel file

DE-fact-sheet.xls

Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	98,004	496,334	594,338
1990	113,229	552,939	666,168
2000	156,638	626,962	783,600
2008 (latest estimates)	188,036	685,056	873,092
More information on Delaware population • County-level Population Data • Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room • Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Income
Per-capita income (2007 dollars)
2006	32,452	41,829	39,849
2007	32,647	42,136	40,112
Percent change	1.2	1.5	1.3

Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
2006	34,910	57,294	53,246
2007	35,001	56,328	52,446
Percent change	0.5	-3.4	-3.0

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	13.6	11.5	11.9
1989	10.7	8.3	8.7
1999	10.5	8.9	9.2
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	9.7	10.5	10.3
More information on Delaware 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

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Education (Persons 25 and older)
Percent not completing high school
1980	42.9	28.9	31.4
1990	30.3	20.8	22.5
2000	23.5	15.7	17.4

Percent completing high school only
1980	35.0	36.4	36.2
1990	37.3	31.7	32.7
2000	35.6	30.3	31.4

Percent completing some college
1980	11.9	15.6	15.0
1990	19.4	24.3	23.4
2000	24.3	26.6	26.1

Percent completing college
1980	9.9	19.1	17.5
1990	13.0	23.3	21.4
2000	16.6	27.4	25.0
More information on Delaware education • County-level Education Data • Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room • Contact Robert Gibbs, 202-694-5423

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Employment
Total number of jobs
2006	98,061	444,090	542,151
2007	99,775	448,355	548,130

Unemployment rate (percent)
2007	3.4	3.5	3.4
2008	4.9	4.7	4.8
More information on Delaware 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	2.5	1.7	1.9
2006-2007	-0.5	0.9	0.6
2007-2008	-0.7	-1.0	-0.9

* 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	2007
1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture

Approximate total land area (acres)	1,250,954	1,250,281	1,249,176
Total farmland (acres)	589,107	540,080	510,253
Percent of total land area	47.1	43.2	40.8

Cropland (acres)	491,489	457,201	432,773
Percent of total farmland	83.4	84.7	84.8
Percent in pasture	2.3	1.5	2.0
Percent irrigated	15.2	21.2	24.0

Harvested Cropland (acres)	469,920	433,105	409,468

Woodland (acres)	63,765	53,729	46,126
Percent of total farmland	10.8	9.9	9.0
Percent in pasture	5.2	9.7	4.5

Pastureland (acres)	6,202	6,540	6,773
Percent of total farmland	1.1	1.2	1.3

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	27,651	22,610	24,581
Percent of total farmland	4.7	4.2	4.8

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	2,605	6,792	9,221

Average farm size (acres)	221	226	200

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	63.8	66.0	70.1
100 to 499 acres	25.2	23.0	20.3
500 to 999 acres	5.8	5.1	3.9
1000 to 1,999 acres	3.5	3.7	3.9
2,000 or more acres	1.7	2.2	1.8

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	32.3	36.8	41.0
$10,000 to $49,999	17.8	12.8	15.7
$50,000 to $99,999	6.7	7.5	4.5
$100,000 to $499,999	23.7	29.0	11.0
More than $500,000	19.5	13.8	27.8

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	1,691	1,597	1,661
Percent of total	63.3	66.8	65.2

Part owner (farms)	726	618	630
Percent of total	27.2	25.8	24.7

Tenant owner (farms)	254	176	255
Percent of total	9.5	7.4	10.0

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	2,176	2,015	2,006
Percent of total	81.5	84.3	78.8

Family-held corporations (farms)	240	199	244
Percent of total	9.0	8.3	9.6

Partnerships (farms)	216	136	210
Percent of total	8.1	5.7	8.2

Non-family corporations (farms)	14	13	38
Percent of total	0.5	0.5	1.5

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	25	28	48
Percent of total	0.9	1.2	1.9

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.4	54.8	55.4
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	59.9	69.4	59.1
Men	2,354	2,062	2,137
Women	317	329	409

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

Farm Financial Indicators

	2007	2008
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	2,550	2,500

	Thousands $
Final crop output	182,499	275,841
+ Final animal output	789,435	827,717
+ Services and forestry	158,332	159,601
= Final agricultural sector output	1,130,266	1,263,158

- Intermediate consumption outlays	740,616	904,180
+ Net government transactions	11,240	14,027
= Gross value added	400,890	373,005

- Capital consumption	61,280	63,592

= Net value added	339,610	309,413

- Factor payments	72,107	66,462
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	38,862	37,211
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	528	-2,108
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	32,717	31,359

= Net farm income	267,503	242,951

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

	Value of receipts thousand $	Percent of state total farm receipts	Percent of US value
Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2008
1. Broilers	773,661	70.7	3.3
2. Corn	78,829	7.2	0.2
3. Soybeans	51,005	4.7	0.2
4. Wheat	43,871	4.0	0.3
5. Dairy products	20,383	1.9	0.1

All commodities	1,094,631		0.3

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

	Rank among states	Value million $
Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2008
1. Poultry and products	15	110.8
2. Wheat and products	36	42.7
3. Soybeans and products	27	34.7
4. Feed grains and products	32	28.8
5. Vegetables and preparations	27	11.7

Overall rank	40	247.6

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

	Percent of state total receipts	Thousands $
Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2007
1. Sussex County	78.4	848,942
2. Kent County	17.4	188,390
3. New Castle County	4.2	45,703
4.
5.

State total		1,083,035

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

Data Sources

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, county data, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Regional Economic Information System, April 2008, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.
1980, 1990, and 2000 Census of Population, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Farm Income and Costs Briefing Room, Economic Research Service, USDA.
Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States (FATUS), Economic Research Service, USDA.
Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

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