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State Fact Sheets: Wisconsin

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 WI-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file WI-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
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
    2010 1,544,904 4,142,082 5,686,986
    2011 1,545,994 4,165,773 5,711,767

More information on Wisconsin 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 32,610 39,436 37,576
    2010 33,457 40,001 38,225
    Percent change 2.6 1.4 1.7
 
Earnings per job (2010 dollars)
    2009 35,209 47,563 44,462
    2010 36,517 48,326 45,368
    Percent change 3.7 1.6 2.0
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 10.3 8.1 8.7
    1989 11.5 10.4 10.7
    1999 8.6 8.7 8.7
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 13.1 13.3 13.2

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

Household-level Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
  2002-04 Avg. 2005-07 Avg. 2008-10 Avg.
Percent of households
    Food insecure 9.0 9.0 11.8
    Very low food security 2.8 3.5 4.3

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) 35.7 28.2 30.4
    1990 (Census) 25.5 19.8 21.4
    2000 (Census) 17.0 14.1 14.9
    2006-2010 (ACS) 11.9 10.1 10.6
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 41.0 40.2 40.4
    1990 (Census) 41.4 35.4 37.1
    2000 (Census) 40.7 32.1 34.6
    2006-2010 (ACS) 40.2 31.6 34.0
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 12.5 15.1 14.4
    1990 (Census) 20.7 25.0 23.8
    2000 (Census) 26.6 28.7 28.1
    2006-2010 (ACS) 29.4 29.7 29.6
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 10.8 16.4 14.8
    1990 (Census) 12.4 19.8 17.7
    2000 (Census) 15.7 25.1 22.4
    2006-2010 (ACS) 18.5 28.7 25.8

More information on Wisconsin 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 866,845 2,587,386 3,454,231
    2010 863,315 2,582,563 3,445,878
 
Percent employment change
    2008-2009 -2.9 -3.4 -3.3
    2009-2010 -1.8 -0.3 -0.7
    2010-2011 0.2 0.5 0.4
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2010 9.1 8.2 8.5
    2011 8.1 7.3 7.5

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

Federal Funds, FY 2010
  Rural * Urban * Total
Federal funding, dollars per person
   All Federal funds 8,762 10,086 9,727
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 245 74 121
      Community resources 897 1,221 1,133
      Defense and space 568 2,106 1,689
      Human resources 186 163 169
      Income security 6,184 5,269 5,518
      National functions 682 1,253 1,098
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,543 1,611 1,593
      Direct loans 174 241 223
      Guaranteed/insured loans 817 1,124 1,041
      Retirement/disability payments 3,360 2,792 2,946
      Other direct payments to
      individuals
1,643 1,565 1,586
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals
181 71 101
      Procurement contracts 439 2,201 1,723
      Salaries and wages 606 480 514

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 718 887 1,016
Crops (acres) 99,588 146,498 170,953
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 37,775 49,909 54,011
Total acres 137,363 196,407 224,965

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) 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

Farm income and value added data
  2009 2010
 
Number of farms 78,000 78,000
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 3,008,629 3,222,831
+     Final animal output 4,877,488 5,969,788
+     Services and forestry 1,390,297 1,290,556
=   Final agricultural sector output 9,276,414 10,483,175
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 5,470,325 5,388,286
+     Net government transactions 10,871 -163,381
=   Gross value added 3,816,960 4,931,508
 
-      Capital consumption 1,390,003 1,416,619
 
=   Net value added 2,426,957 3,514,889
 
-    Factor payments 1,625,253 1,448,251
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 925,544 779,477
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 189,972 183,239
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 509,737 485,535
 
=   Net farm income 801,704 2,066,639
 

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. Dairy products 4,147,199 46.2 13.2
2. Corn 1,197,676 13.4 2.7
3. Cattle and calves 859,514 9.6 1.7
4. Soybeans 679,858 7.6 2.0
5. Greenhouse/nursery 240,570 2.7 1.5
 
All commodities 8,967,543   2.9
 

More information on Wisconsin'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. Dairy Products 1 712.0
2. Soybeans and products 13 546.1
3. Feed grains and products 10 442.7
4. Live animals and meat 15 220.1
5. Vegetables and preparations 7 180.3
 
Total export value 13 2,675.1
 

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. 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

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