Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Wisconsin

• 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	1,329,240	3,376,402	4,705,642
1990	1,356,172	3,535,597	4,891,769
2000	1,495,002	3,868,673	5,363,675
2008 (latest estimates)	1,525,340	4,102,627	5,627,967
More information on Wisconsin 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	29,729	37,590	35,443
2007	30,627	38,382	36,272
Percent change	6.0	4.2	4.7

Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
2006	32,418	44,717	41,602
2007	33,063	44,815	41,851
Percent change	4.0	0.4	1.2

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	10.3	8.1	8.7
1989	11.5	10.4	10.7
1999	8.6	8.7	8.7
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	10.5	10.9	10.8
More information on Wisconsin 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	35.7	28.2	30.4
1990	25.5	19.8	21.4
2000	17.0	14.1	14.9

Percent completing high school only
1980	41.0	40.2	40.4
1990	41.4	35.4	37.1
2000	40.7	32.1	34.6

Percent completing some college
1980	12.5	15.1	14.4
1990	20.7	25.0	23.8
2000	26.6	28.7	28.1

Percent completing college
1980	10.8	16.4	14.8
1990	12.4	19.8	17.7
2000	15.7	25.1	22.4
More information on Wisconsin 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	906,293	2,672,334	3,578,627
2007	906,571	2,688,513	3,595,084

Unemployment rate (percent)
2007	5.2	4.5	4.7
2008	5.2	4.6	4.7
More information on Wisconsin 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	1.6	1.4
2006-2007	-0.5	1.2	0.7
2007-2008	-0.2	-0.4	-0.3

* 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)	34,760,751	34,758,467	34,655,459
Total farmland (acres)	16,232,744	15,741,552	15,190,804
Percent of total land area	46.7	45.3	43.8

Cropland (acres)	10,999,803	10,728,655	10,116,279
Percent of total farmland	67.8	68.2	66.6
Percent in pasture	9.7	7.1	3.9
Percent irrigated	3.2	3.5	3.7

Harvested Cropland (acres)	8,996,941	8,928,083	8,884,628

Woodland (acres)	3,292,708	3,179,502	2,920,214
Percent of total farmland	20.3	20.2	19.2
Percent in pasture	23.8	21.5	18.0

Pastureland (acres)	794,479	777,616	1,065,814
Percent of total farmland	4.9	4.9	7.0

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	1,145,754	1,055,779	1,088,497
Percent of total farmland	7.1	6.7	7.2

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	740,259	614,047	654,486

Average farm size (acres)	204	204	194

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	40.7	46.4	51.1
100 to 499 acres	51.6	45.4	41.2
500 to 999 acres	5.8	5.8	5.3
1000 to 1,999 acres	1.5	1.8	1.8
2,000 or more acres	0.4	0.6	0.7

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	45.6	54.0	54.8
$10,000 to $49,999	22.3	18.5	17.1
$50,000 to $99,999	11.5	9.4	6.9
$100,000 to $499,999	18.8	15.8	16.8
More than $500,000	1.9	2.3	4.4

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	50,608	52,370	53,783
Percent of total	63.6	67.9	68.5

Part owner (farms)	23,842	21,205	21,501
Percent of total	30.0	27.5	27.4

Tenant owner (farms)	5,091	3,556	3,179
Percent of total	6.4	4.6	4.1

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	69,452	68,719	68,138
Percent of total	87.3	89.1	86.8

Family-held corporations (farms)	2,883	2,519	3,036
Percent of total	3.6	3.3	3.9

Partnerships (farms)	6,452	5,347	6,386
Percent of total	8.1	6.9	8.1

Non-family corporations (farms)	262	207	297
Percent of total	0.3	0.3	0.4

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	492	339	606
Percent of total	0.6	0.4	0.8

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	52.0	53.0	55.0
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	54.5	59.4	47.2
Men	73,748	69,778	69,287
Women	5,793	7,353	9,176

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	78,500	78,000

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,745,118	3,491,204
+ Final animal output	6,327,862	6,285,657
+ Services and forestry	1,300,590	1,510,089
= Final agricultural sector output	10,373,571	11,286,951

- Intermediate consumption outlays	4,921,410	5,675,791
+ Net government transactions	-186,046	-138,130
= Gross value added	5,266,115	5,473,030

- Capital consumption	1,265,870	1,343,640

= Net value added	4,000,245	4,129,390

- Factor payments	1,483,665	1,547,892
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	862,025	905,059
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	111,271	155,232
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	510,369	487,601

= Net farm income	2,516,580	2,581,498

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. Dairy products	4,571,343	46.2	13.1
2. Corn	1,675,995	17.0	3.3
3. Cattle and calves	820,222	8.3	1.7
4. Soybeans	412,088	4.2	1.4
5. Potatoes	284,342	2.9	7.7

All commodities	9,885,557		3.0

More information on Wisconsin'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. Dairy products	1	949.2
2. Feed grains and products	12	530.7
3. Soybeans and products	14	363.6
4. Live animals and meat	15	237.4
5. Vegetables and preparations	6	179.7

Overall rank	15	3,010.1

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. Dane County	5.2	470,593
2. Grant County	3.7	329,706
3. Marathon County	3.4	307,437
4. Dodge County	3.3	294,832
5. Fond du Lac County	3.2	290,417

State total		8,967,358

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