Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Kentucky

• 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

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Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,672,223	1,988,101	3,660,324
1990	1,645,442	2,039,854	3,685,296
2000	1,769,275	2,272,494	4,041,769
2008 (latest estimates)	1,818,221	2,451,024	4,269,245
More information on Kentucky 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	24,176	35,048	30,383
2007	24,485	35,552	30,824
Percent change	2.6	2.9	2.9

Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
2006	31,640	45,049	40,226
2007	31,687	45,200	40,372
Percent change	0.3	0.7	0.7

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	23.0	13.0	17.6
1989	25.4	13.9	19.0
1999	21.2	11.6	15.8
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	21.8	13.7	17.2
More information on Kentucky 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	56.7	38.6	46.9
1990	45.2	27.5	35.4
2000	34.3	19.2	25.9

Percent completing high school only
1980	28.0	34.5	31.3
1990	31.3	32.1	31.8
2000	35.5	32.1	33.6

Percent completing some college
1980	8.0	13.1	10.7
1990	14.4	23.1	19.2
2000	19.0	26.9	23.4

Percent completing college
1980	7.8	13.8	11.1
1990	9.0	17.3	13.6
2000	11.3	21.8	17.1
More information on Kentucky 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	867,722	1,544,755	2,412,477
2007	871,222	1,567,043	2,438,265

Unemployment rate (percent)
2007	6.3	5.1	5.5
2008	7.0	6.1	6.4
More information on Kentucky 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	1.7	2.1	2.0
2006-2007	0.4	1.0	0.8
2007-2008	-0.6	-0.6	-0.6

* 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)	25,428,692	25,426,029	25,275,577
Total farmland (acres)	13,940,180	13,843,706	13,993,121
Percent of total land area	54.8	54.4	55.4

Cropland (acres)	8,887,861	8,412,354	7,278,098
Percent of total farmland	63.8	60.8	52.0
Percent in pasture	36.0	30.7	20.2
Percent irrigated	0.6	0.4	0.8

Harvested Cropland (acres)	4,853,500	4,978,994	5,057,883

Woodland (acres)	3,178,769	3,111,626	3,107,137
Percent of total farmland	22.8	22.5	22.2
Percent in pasture	30.1	29.0	26.0

Pastureland (acres)	1,179,706	1,613,681	2,912,424
Percent of total farmland	8.5	11.7	20.8

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	693,844	706,045	695,462
Percent of total farmland	5.0	5.1	5.0

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	370,090	403,946	375,049

Average farm size (acres)	153	160	164

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	57.6	57.4	56.8
100 to 499 acres	37.1	36.9	37.3
500 to 999 acres	3.7	3.7	3.8
1000 to 1,999 acres	1.2	1.4	1.4
2,000 or more acres	0.4	0.5	0.6

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	58.9	67.3	66.5
$10,000 to $49,999	29.6	22.7	22.2
$50,000 to $99,999	5.3	4.0	4.3
$100,000 to $499,999	5.4	4.8	5.1
More than $500,000	0.9	1.1	1.9

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	66,243	66,456	65,445
Percent of total	72.6	76.8	76.8

Part owner (farms)	18,229	15,937	16,534
Percent of total	20.0	18.4	19.4

Tenant owner (farms)	6,726	4,148	3,281
Percent of total	7.4	4.8	3.8

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	79,441	79,297	76,140
Percent of total	87.1	91.6	89.3

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,184	983	1,273
Percent of total	1.3	1.1	1.5

Partnerships (farms)	10,004	5,764	7,334
Percent of total	11.0	6.7	8.6

Non-family corporations (farms)	183	136	156
Percent of total	0.2	0.2	0.2

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	386	361	357
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.4

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.7	55.2	56.5
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	39.5	54.2	39.8
Men	82,591	78,267	76,150
Women	8,607	8,274	9,110

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	85,300	85,300

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,309,435	2,052,508
+ Final animal output	2,922,314	2,856,470
+ Services and forestry	928,359	998,291
= Final agricultural sector output	5,160,109	5,907,269

- Intermediate consumption outlays	2,776,469	2,986,845
+ Net government transactions	191,123	193,865
= Gross value added	2,574,762	3,114,289

- Capital consumption	811,675	857,545

= Net value added	1,763,087	2,256,744

- Factor payments	695,426	697,892
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	343,388	328,798
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	54,891	83,733
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	297,147	285,361

= Net farm income	1,067,661	1,558,852

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. Horses/mules	1,080,000	22.3	92.7
2. Broilers	743,805	15.4	3.2
3. Corn	653,037	13.5	1.3
4. Cattle and calves	574,379	11.9	1.2
5. Soybeans	383,971	7.9	1.3

All commodities	4,837,756		1.5

More information on Kentucky'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. Live animals and meat	8	382.6
2. Tobacco unmfd.	2	331.2
3. Soybeans and products	17	306.5
4. Wheat and products	23	211.9
5. Feed grains and products	15	207.9

Overall rank	22	1,670.8

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. Fayette County	10.4	504,125
2. Woodford County	7.1	341,058
3. Graves County	5.1	245,210
4. Bourbon County	3.7	179,583
5. McLean County	3.3	161,060

State total		4,824,561

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