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State Fact Sheets: Tennessee

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 January 17, 2012

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

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 1,316,474 3,274,549 4,591,023
    1990 1,348,082 3,529,103 4,877,185
    2000 1,566,995 4,122,288 5,689,283
    2010 1,686,343 4,659,762 6,346,105

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

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2009 dollars)
    2008 27,806 37,583 34,979
    2009 27,723 36,640 34,277
    Percent change -0.3 -2.5 -2.0
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 33,558 47,611 44,587
    2009 33,765 47,771 44,777
    Percent change 0.6 0.3 0.4
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 19.3 15.3 16.5
    1989 18.3 14.7 15.7
    1999 15.5 12.7 13.5
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 20.4 16.8 17.8

More information on Tennessee 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 11.5 12.8 15.0
    Very low food security 3.5 4.2 6.0

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) 54.8 39.3 43.8
    1990 (Census) 43.3 28.9 32.9
    2000 (Census) 31.8 21.1 24.1
    2006-2010 (ACS) 23.2 15.3 17.5
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 30.0 32.4 31.7
    1990 (Census) 32.4 29.1 30.0
    2000 (Census) 37.4 29.3 31.6
    2006-2010 (ACS) 40.9 30.5 33.4
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 7.9 13.5 11.9
    1990 (Census) 15.3 23.3 21.1
    2000 (Census) 19.8 26.7 24.8
    2006-2010 (ACS) 22.7 27.8 26.4
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 7.5 14.7 12.6
    1990 (Census) 9.0 18.7 16.0
    2000 (Census) 11.0 22.9 19.6
    2006-2010 (ACS) 13.1 26.3 22.7

More information on Tennessee 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
    2008 797,465 2,908,655 3,706,120
    2009 758,728 2,790,870 3,549,598
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 -1.8 -0.3 -0.7
    2008-2009 -5.7 -3.7 -4.2
    2009-2010 0.8 0.9 0.9
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 13.0 9.5 10.4
    2010 11.9 9.0 9.7

More information on Tennessee 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 10,982 11,426 11,308
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 124 72 86
      Community resources 861 1,661 1,449
      Defense and space 671 755 733
      Human resources 200 187 190
      Income security 8,419 6,349 6,898
      National functions 707 2,402 1,952
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,837 1,527 1,609
      Direct loans 215 266 253
      Guaranteed/insured loans 671 1,525 1,298
      Retirement/disability payments 3,845 3,131 3,320
      Other direct payments to
      individuals
3,107 2,293 2,509
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals
128 117 120
      Procurement contracts 782 1,889 1,595
      Salaries and wages 396 679 604

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 6 24 26
Crops (acres) 485 2,462 2,543
Pasture & rangeland (acres)   114 112
Total acres 485 2,576 2,655

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) 26,380,477 26,378,957 26,383,003
    Total farmland (acres) 11,986,258 11,681,533 10,969,798
        Percent of total land area 45.4 44.3 41.6
 
        Cropland (acres) 7,451,482 6,992,992 6,047,348
            Percent of total farmland 62.2 59.9 55.1
            Percent in pasture 34.6 29.5 19.7
            Percent irrigated 0.6 0.8 1.3
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 4,233,018 4,365,360 4,226,440
 
        Woodland (acres) 2,903,842 2,338,495 2,042,868
            Percent of total farmland 24.2 20.0 18.6
            Percent in pasture 36.0 36.4 37.7
 
        Pastureland (acres) 1,104,756 1,948,445 2,545,047
            Percent of total farmland 9.2 16.7 23.2
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)
526,178 401,601 334,535
            Percent of total farmland 4.4 3.4 3.0
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)
393,281 227,996 289,200
 
Average farm size (acres) 131 133 138
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 65.2 66.3 66.2
            100 to 499 acres 30.5 29.4 29.2
            500 to 999 acres 2.8 2.8 2.9
            1000 to 1,999 acres 1.1 1.0 1.1
            2,000 or more acres 0.4 0.5 0.6
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 75.6 77.5 74.8
            $10,000 to $49,999 17.6 15.6 17.9
            $50,000 to $99,999 2.5 2.4 2.5
            $100,000 to $499,999 3.5 3.5 3.3
            More than $500,000 0.8 0.9 1.5
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 65,892 64,279 57,951
            Percent of total 72.0 73.4 73.1
 
        Part owner (farms) 20,706 19,844 18,733
            Percent of total 22.6 22.7 23.6
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 4,938 3,472 2,596
            Percent of total 5.4 4.0 3.3
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)
83,403 82,866 72,675
            Percent of total 91.1 94.6 91.7
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)
626 392 693
            Percent of total 0.7 0.4 0.9
 
        Partnerships (farms) 7,031 3,996 5,568
            Percent of total 7.7 4.6 7.0
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 143 60 172
            Percent of total 0.2 0.1 0.2
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)
333 281 172
            Percent of total 0.4 0.3 0.2
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 54.8 56.0 57.8
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation
33.5 50.3 38.9
        Men 82,987 78,182 69,320
        Women 8,549 9,413 9,960
 

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 78,700 78,300
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 1,821,233 1,688,134
+     Final animal output 1,198,246 1,302,323
+     Services and forestry 913,008 929,853
=   Final agricultural sector output 3,932,487 3,920,310
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 2,209,047 2,201,691
+     Net government transactions 103,638 -3,714
=   Gross value added 1,827,078 1,714,905
 
-      Capital consumption 773,666 789,447
 
=   Net value added 1,053,412 925,458
 
-    Factor payments 436,076 467,671
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 212,969 205,434
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords -9,216 39,643
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 232,323 222,594
 
=   Net farm income 617,337 457,788
 

More information on farm income
Farm Income Data
Farm Income and Costs Briefing Room
• Contact Timothy Park, 202-694-5446.

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, 2010
  Value of receipts
thousand $
Percent of state total
farm receipts
Percent of US value
1. Cattle and calves 545,033 17.7 1.1
2. Soybeans 517,914 16.8 1.6
3. Broilers 475,589 15.4 2.0
4. Greenhouse/nursery 297,867 9.7 1.9
5. Corn 287,307 9.3 0.6
 
All commodities 3,082,452   1.0
 

More information on Tennessee'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. Soybeans and products 16 290.0
2. Cotton and linters 8 174.6
3. Wheat and products 25 96.4
4. Other 15 83.7
5. Feed grains and products 23 65.5
 
Total export value 29 980.0
 

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. Bedford County 4.3 113,564
2. Warren County 4.1 108,569
3. Bradley County 3.8 98,461
4. Obion County 3.3 85,584
5. Robertson County 3.1 82,028
 
State total   2,617,394
 

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: January 17, 2012