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State Fact Sheets: Montana

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

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Excel file MT-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file MT-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 513,844 272,846 786,690
    1990 521,188 277,877 799,065
    2000 587,132 315,063 902,195
    2010 640,739 348,676 989,415

More information on Montana 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 33,741 37,668 35,127
    2009 33,354 37,514 34,828
    Percent change -1.1 -0.4 -0.9
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 34,084 39,975 36,272
    2009 33,995 40,515 36,439
    Percent change -0.3 1.4 0.5
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 13.3 10.3 12.3
    1989 17.2 14.0 16.1
    1999 15.5 12.8 14.6
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 16.0 13.7 15.2

More information on Montana 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 12.2 9.5 14.1
    Very low food security 4.7 3.8 5.6

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) 27.1 22.8 25.6
    1990 (Census) 20.5 16.2 19.0
    2000 (Census) 13.7 11.2 12.8
    2006-2010 (ACS) 9.4 8.4 9.0
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 38.0 37.6 38.0
    1990 (Census) 34.1 32.3 33.5
    2000 (Census) 31.7 30.5 31.3
    2006-2010 (ACS) 32.3 29.2 31.2
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 18.7 19.6 19.0
    1990 (Census) 27.0 29.1 27.7
    2000 (Census) 31.5 31.5 31.5
    2006-2010 (ACS) 31.9 31.8 31.8
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 16.1 20.0 17.5
    1990 (Census) 18.5 22.3 19.8
    2000 (Census) 23.0 26.9 24.4
    2006-2010 (ACS) 26.4 30.6 27.9

More information on Montana 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 403,256 238,269 641,525
    2009 391,034 234,482 625,516
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 0.2 -0.1 0.1
    2008-2009 -5.2 -2.4 -4.2
    2009-2010 -0.8 -0.9 -0.8
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 7.0 5.1 6.3
    2010 7.9 6.2 7.2

More information on Montana 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 11,006 10,709 10,901
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 747 129 529
      Community resources 1,798 2,019 1,876
      Defense and space 672 949 770
      Human resources 383 289 350
      Income security 5,760 5,554 5,687
      National functions 1,646 1,769 1,690
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,919 1,512 1,776
      Direct loans 299 265 287
      Guaranteed/insured loans 1,234 1,877 1,460
      Retirement/disability payments 3,437 3,296 3,387
      Other direct payments to
      individuals
1,505 1,390 1,465
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals
698 119 494
      Procurement contracts 839 804 827
      Salaries and wages 1,075 1,445 1,206

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 143 146 144
Crops (acres) 138,769 139,791 132,029
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 105,374 80,602 83,219
Total acres 244,143 220,393 215,248

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) 92,999,006 93,153,553 93,134,579
    Total farmland (acres) 58,445,339 59,612,403 61,388,462
        Percent of total land area 62.8 64.0 65.9
 
        Cropland (acres) 18,238,158 18,315,514 18,241,710
            Percent of total farmland 31.2 30.7 29.7
            Percent in pasture 9.0 9.4 9.2
            Percent irrigated 8.9 8.5 8.5
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 9,792,216 8,742,111 9,163,867
 
        Woodland (acres) 2,051,629 2,200,562 2,284,011
            Percent of total farmland 3.5 3.7 3.7
            Percent in pasture 83.9 77.2 77.9
 
        Pastureland (acres) 37,186,473 38,241,382 40,003,265
            Percent of total farmland 63.6 64.2 65.2
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)
969,079 854,945 859,476
            Percent of total farmland 1.7 1.4 1.4
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)
2,767,625 3,533,432 3,561,031
 
Average farm size (acres) 2,115 2,139 2,079
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 29.1 30.8 32.2
            100 to 499 acres 22.7 22.8 24.8
            500 to 999 acres 11.1 9.9 9.9
            1000 to 1,999 acres 12.2 10.9 9.9
            2,000 or more acres 24.9 25.5 23.2
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 43.4 50.4 53.2
            $10,000 to $49,999 24.4 20.7 16.9
            $50,000 to $99,999 12.4 10.9 8.3
            $100,000 to $499,999 18.1 16.2 17.8
            More than $500,000 1.8 1.9 3.8
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 15,101 17,013 18,812
            Percent of total 54.7 61.0 63.7
 
        Part owner (farms) 9,268 8,674 8,480
            Percent of total 33.5 31.1 28.7
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 3,263 2,183 2,232
            Percent of total 11.8 7.8 7.6
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)
21,674 22,448 22,625
            Percent of total 78.4 80.5 76.6
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)
3,185 2,607 3,353
            Percent of total 11.5 9.4 11.4
 
        Partnerships (farms) 2,250 2,192 2,839
            Percent of total 8.1 7.9 9.6
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 132 123 156
            Percent of total 0.5 0.4 0.5
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)
391 500 551
            Percent of total 1.4 1.8 1.9
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 53.7 55.4 57.8
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation
61.0 63.5 50.7
        Men 24,755 24,203 24,938
        Women 2,877 3,667 4,586
 

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 29,800 29,400
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 1,690,176 1,918,404
+     Final animal output 1,026,185 1,219,466
+     Services and forestry 692,989 501,141
=   Final agricultural sector output 3,409,350 3,639,011
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 1,951,797 1,865,565
+     Net government transactions 55,439 123,212
=   Gross value added 1,512,992 1,896,658
 
-      Capital consumption 486,320 493,324
 
=   Net value added 1,026,672 1,403,334
 
-    Factor payments 672,730 705,677
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 217,235 196,345
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 232,278 295,459
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 223,217 213,873
 
=   Net farm income 353,942 697,657
 

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 1,084,644 35.6 2.1
2. Wheat 1,032,557 33.9 9.5
3. Hay 267,970 8.8 5.0
4. Barley 157,348 5.2 21.2
5. Lentils 77,593 2.5 37.0
 
All commodities 3,049,592   1.0
 

More information on Montana'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. Wheat and products 3 657.5
2. Feeds and fodders 5 340.4
3. Vegetables and preparations 10 139.9
4. Feed grains and products 24 60.4
5. Seeds 19 17.0
 
Total export value 26 1,240.0
 

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. Yellowstone County 5.9 164,647
2. Chouteau County 5.3 147,243
3. Richland County 3.8 106,957
4. Fergus County 3.6 101,167
5. Teton County 3.5 97,705
 
State total   2,803,062
 

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