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State Fact Sheets: North Carolina
• Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment
• Federal Funds
• Organic Agriculture
• Farm Characteristics
• Farm Financial Indicators
• Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
• About the State Fact Sheets

Data updated May 2, 2012

Data Download
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Excel file NC-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file NC-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 2,083,621 3,796,474 5,880,095
    1990 2,217,336 4,411,301 6,628,637
    2000 2,563,889 5,485,424 8,049,313
    2010 2,831,125 6,704,358 9,535,483
    2011 2,839,037 6,817,364 9,656,401

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

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2010 dollars)
    2009 30,117 36,655 34,707
    2010 30,237 37,017 35,007
    Percent change 0.4 1.0 0.9
 
Earnings per job (2010 dollars)
    2009 36,694 48,666 45,726
    2010 37,116 49,808 46,708
    Percent change 1.2 2.3 2.1
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 17.7 13.2 14.8
    1989 16.0 11.4 13.0
    1999 14.9 11.1 12.3
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 20.3 16.2 17.4

More information on North Carolina 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

Household-level Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
  2002-04 Avg. 2005-07 Avg. 2008-10 Avg.
Percent of households
    Food insecure 13.8 12.6 15.7
    Very low food security 4.9 4.0 5.2

More information on Food Insecurity
• Food Security in the United States Briefing Room
• Definitions of Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
• Comparisons of prevalence rates of food insecurity between States must take account of the margins of error, which are sizeable for many States. Margins of error are published along with State prevalence rates in each year’s Household Food Security in the United States report.
• Contact Alisha Coleman-Jensen, 202-694-5456.

Education (Persons 25 and older)
  Rural * Urban * Total
Percent not completing high school
    1980 (Census) 52.4 41.1 45.2
    1990 (Census) 37.1 26.4 30.0
    2000 (Census) 27.3 19.2 21.9
    2006-2010 (ACS) 20.9 14.5 16.4
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 27.0 28.4 27.8
    1990 (Census) 30.7 28.1 29.0
    2000 (Census) 32.2 26.7 28.4
    2006-2010 (ACS) 32.6 26.3 28.2
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 11.5 15.0 13.8
    1990 (Census) 20.8 25.0 23.6
    2000 (Census) 26.0 27.8 27.2
    2006-2010 (ACS) 29.5 29.1 29.2
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 9.2 15.5 13.2
    1990 (Census) 11.4 20.4 17.4
    2000 (Census) 14.5 26.3 22.5
    2006-2010 (ACS) 17.0 30.1 26.1

More information on North Carolina education
• County-level Education Data
• Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Alexander Marré, 202-694-5338

Employment
  Rural * Urban * Total
Total number of jobs
    2009 1,283,948 3,945,256 5,229,204
    2010 1,270,626 3,930,979 5,201,605
 
Percent employment change
    2008-2009 -5.6 -4.2 -4.6
    2009-2010 0.6 0.7 0.6
    2010-2011 1.2 1.3 1.3
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2010 12.3 10.4 10.9
    2011 11.8 10.0 10.5

More information on North Carolina unemployment rates
• County-level Unemployment and Median Household Income Data
• Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Lorin Kusmin, 202-694-5429

Federal Funds, FY 2010
  Rural * Urban * Total
Federal funding, dollars per person
   All Federal funds 9,161 10,199 9,891
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 161 80 104
      Community resources 940 1,536 1,359
      Defense and space 409 2,180 1,655
      Human resources 240 171 192
      Income security 6,790 4,845 5,421
      National functions 621 1,386 1,159
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,863 1,456 1,576
      Direct loans 217 216 216
      Guaranteed/insured loans 740 1,434 1,229
      Retirement/disability payments 3,579 2,891 3,095
      Other direct payments to
      individuals		 1,778 1,275 1,424
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals		 167 84 109
      Procurement contracts 312 774 637
      Salaries and wages 505 2,069 1,605

Total does not include Statewide funds undistributed at the county level.

More information on Federal Funds
• Program Function and Object Code Definitions
• Federal Funds and Development Policy Briefing Room
• Federal Funds Data
• Contact Richard Reeder, 202-694-5360


* The terms “rural” and “urban” here refer to data for nonmetro and metro areas, a county-level classification defined by the Office of Management and Budget. We use the June 2003 version of nonmetro and metro areas because it reflects conditions at the beginning of the decade. See Measuring Rurality: What is Rural? for a discussion of differences between metro-nonmetro categories and the Census Bureau’s rural-urban classification.
 
More information on socioeconomic conditions
• Rural Emphasis Page
• Contact Tim Parker, 202-694-5435.

Organic Agriculture

  2006 2007 2008
Number of certified operations 85 112 156
Crops (acres) 1,731 2,932 5,243
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 80 93  
Total acres 1,811 3,025 5,243

More information on organic agriculture
• Organic Production Data
• Organic Agriculture Briefing Room
• Contact Catherine Greene, 202-694-5541.

Farm Characteristics

1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture
 
  1997 2002 2007
Approximate total land area (acres) 31,179,568 31,174,963 31,113,828
    Total farmland (acres) 9,444,867 9,079,001 8,474,671
        Percent of total land area 30.3 29.1 27.2
 
        Cropland (acres) 5,701,023 5,472,128 4,895,204
            Percent of total farmland 60.4 60.3 57.8
            Percent in pasture 16.2 12.2 6.9
            Percent irrigated 2.6 4.4 4.3
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 4,269,966 4,308,209 4,188,658
 
        Woodland (acres) 2,788,642 2,520,118 2,201,609
            Percent of total farmland 29.5 27.8 26.0
            Percent in pasture 18.3 18.8 13.1
 
        Pastureland (acres) 421,276 605,860 941,609
            Percent of total farmland 4.5 6.7 11.1
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)		 533,926 480,895 436,249
            Percent of total farmland 5.7 5.3 5.1
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)		 152,836 183,000 163,676
 
Average farm size (acres) 160 168 160
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 66.3 67.1 69.3
            100 to 499 acres 26.9 25.6 24.0
            500 to 999 acres 4.1 4.0 3.5
            1000 to 1,999 acres 1.9 2.2 2.1
            2,000 or more acres 0.8 1.0 1.0
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 59.7 63.7 64.8
            $10,000 to $49,999 18.0 15.9 16.2
            $50,000 to $99,999 4.9 4.1 3.2
            $100,000 to $499,999 10.9 9.7 7.0
            More than $500,000 6.5 6.6 8.7
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 35,904 34,489 34,526
            Percent of total 60.7 64.0 65.3
 
        Part owner (farms) 18,231 16,030 15,181
            Percent of total 30.8 29.7 28.7
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 4,985 3,411 3,206
            Percent of total 8.4 6.3 6.1
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)		 51,913 48,672 45,766
            Percent of total 87.8 90.3 86.5
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)		 2,084 1,652 2,241
            Percent of total 3.5 3.1 4.2
 
        Partnerships (farms) 4,663 3,209 4,246
            Percent of total 7.9 6.0 8.0
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 196 171 384
            Percent of total 0.3 0.3 0.7
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)		 264 226 276
            Percent of total 0.4 0.4 0.5
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 54.8 56.1 57.3
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation		 45.6 58.7 45.8
        Men 53,874 48,574 45,897
        Women 5,246 5,356 7,016
 

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
  2009 2010
 
Number of farms 52,400 52,400
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 3,586,672 3,160,115
+     Final animal output 5,680,518 6,291,380
+     Services and forestry 1,208,047 1,152,635
=   Final agricultural sector output 10,475,237 10,604,130
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 6,322,096 6,036,328
+     Net government transactions 198,511 223,475
=   Gross value added 4,351,652 4,791,277
 
-      Capital consumption 683,231 697,865
 
=   Net value added 3,668,421 4,093,412
 
-    Factor payments 841,010 756,461
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 540,062 401,679
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords -17,017 52,721
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 317,965 302,061
 
=   Net farm income 2,827,412 3,336,952
 

More information on farm income
• Farm Income Data
• Farm Income and Costs Briefing Room
• Contact Ted Covey, 202-694-5344.

Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties

Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2010
  Value of receipts
thousand $		 Percent of state total
farm receipts		 Percent of US value
1. Broilers 2,612,054 27.0 11.0
2. Hogs 2,242,773 23.2 12.5
3. Greenhouse/nursery 764,670 7.9 4.9
4. Tobacco 589,198 6.1 47.3
5. Turkeys 587,430 6.1 13.4
 
All commodities 9,659,415   3.1
 

More information on North Carolina's top agriculture commodities
• Leading commodities by cash receipts in Excel.
• Other cash receipts data.
• Contact Ted Covey, 202-694-5344.

Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2010
  Rank among states Value
million $
1. Tobacco unmfd. 1 601.3
2. Live animals and meat 6 524.7
3. Poultry and products 3 428.1
4. Soybeans and products 18 267.3
5. Cotton and linters 5 249.0
 
Total export value 12 2,743.8
 

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. Sampson County 11.6 1,196,332
2. Duplin County 11.4 1,176,272
3. Wayne County 4.9 501,176
4. Union County 4.0 410,496
5. Wilkes County 3.8 389,831
 
State total   10,313,628
 

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: May 2, 2012