Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Alaska

• 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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Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	155,621	246,230	401,851
1990	206,302	343,741	550,043
2000	224,487	402,445	626,932
2010	231,829	478,402	710,231
More information on Alaska population • County-level Population Data • Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room • Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Income
Per-capita income (2009 dollars)
2008	40,708	45,940	44,237
2009	40,106	44,690	43,212
Percent change	-1.5	-2.7	-2.3

Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
2008	48,247	57,772	54,468
2009	49,641	59,465	56,064
Percent change	2.9	2.9	2.9

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	14.6	8.3	10.7
1989	11.6	7.5	9.0
1999	11.9	8.0	9.4
2010 (latest model-based estimates)	13.6	9.8	11.0
More information on Alaska 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

	2002-04 Avg.	2005-07 Avg.	2008-10 Avg.
Household-level Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
Percent of households
Food insecure	11.7	12.4	13.6
Very low food security	4.6	4.8	4.9
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.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Education (Persons 25 and older)
Percent not completing high school
1980 (Census)	25.5	12.5	17.5
1990 (Census)	19.0	10.0	13.4
2000 (Census)	15.2	9.7	11.7
2006-2010 (ACS)	12.1	7.9	9.3

Percent completing high school only
1980 (Census)	37.0	40.1	38.9
1990 (Census)	31.9	26.9	28.7
2000 (Census)	32.1	25.5	27.9
2006-2010 (ACS)	31.8	25.1	27.4

Percent completing some college
1980 (Census)	19.4	24.5	22.6
1990 (Census)	30.2	37.6	34.9
2000 (Census)	32.1	37.8	35.7
2006-2010 (ACS)	34.2	37.4	36.3

Percent completing college
1980 (Census)	18.2	22.8	21.1
1990 (Census)	18.9	25.5	23.0
2000 (Census)	20.7	27.0	24.7
2006-2010 (ACS)	21.9	29.6	27.0
More information on Alaska education • County-level Education Data • Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room • Contact Alexander Marré, 202-694-5338

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Employment
Total number of jobs
2008	154,588	291,029	445,617
2009	154,315	291,348	445,663

Percent employment change
2007-2008	1.1	0.8	0.9
2008-2009	-0.7	-0.5	-0.5
2009-2010	0.4	0.6	0.5

Unemployment rate (percent)
2009	9.3	7.1	7.8
2010	9.4	7.3	8.0
More information on Alaska unemployment rates • County-level Unemployment and Median Household Income Data • Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room • Contact Lorin Kusmin, 202-694-5429

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Federal Funds, FY 2010
Federal funding, dollars per person
All Federal funds	18,304	15,901	16,684

Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
Agriculture and natural resources	96	55	68
Community resources	2,413	4,053	3,518
Defense and space	6,347	5,176	5,557
Human resources	1,146	290	569
Income security	5,389	3,901	4,386
National functions	2,913	2,427	2,585

Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
Grants	4,737	2,524	3,246
Direct loans	231	319	290
Guaranteed/insured loans	935	2,915	2,270
Retirement/disability payments	2,070	2,304	2,227
Other direct payments to individuals	1,006	676	783
Direct payments, not to individuals	403	123	214
Procurement contracts	2,376	3,932	3,425
Salaries and wages	6,546	3,108	4,229
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	8	8	8
Crops (acres)	442	442	442
Pasture & rangeland (acres)
Total acres	442	442	442
More information on organic agriculture • Organic Production Data • Organic Agriculture Briefing Room • Contact Catherine Greene, 202-694-5541.

Farm Characteristics

	1997	2002	2007
1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture

Approximate total land area (acres)	365,039,087	366,048,788	366,013,154
Total farmland (acres)	881,045	900,715	881,585
Percent of total land area	0.2	0.2	0.2

Cropland (acres)	94,810	98,131	86,238
Percent of total farmland	10.8	10.9	9.8
Percent in pasture	8.2	9.1	8.2
Percent irrigated	2.8	0.0

Harvested Cropland (acres)	34,227	31,824	30,772

Woodland (acres)	110,916	42,244	41,698
Percent of total farmland	12.6	4.7	4.7
Percent in pasture	68.6	13.8	10.2

Pastureland (acres)	655,852	730,478	737,746
Percent of total farmland	74.4	81.1	83.7

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	19,467	29,862	15,903
Percent of total farmland	2.2	3.3	1.8

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	25,400	29,175	28,298

Average farm size (acres)	1,608	1,479	1,285

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	45.4	51.7	59.2
100 to 499 acres	38.1	32.2	27.7
500 to 999 acres	6.0	6.7	5.5
1000 to 1,999 acres	4.7	4.8	3.5
2,000 or more acres	5.7	4.6	4.1

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	59.9	59.4	58.7
$10,000 to $49,999	26.1	23.3	23.2
$50,000 to $99,999	5.5	5.6	6.9
$100,000 to $499,999	7.5	9.2	8.5
More than $500,000	1.1	2.5	2.8

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	332	431	492
Percent of total	60.6	70.8	71.7

Part owner (farms)	136	92	110
Percent of total	24.8	15.1	16.0

Tenant owner (farms)	80	86	84
Percent of total	14.6	14.1	12.2

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	458	497	550
Percent of total	83.6	81.6	80.2

Family-held corporations (farms)	21	27	43
Percent of total	3.8	4.4	6.3

Partnerships (farms)	43	30	42
Percent of total	7.8	4.9	6.1

Non-family corporations (farms)	15	9	9
Percent of total	2.7	1.5	1.3

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	11	46	42
Percent of total	2.0	7.6	6.1

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.3	55.2	56.2
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	55.8	60.8	53.2
Men	453	492	518
Women	95	117	168

More information on farm characteristics • Census of Agriculture • Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540.

Farm Financial Indicators

	2009	2010
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	680	680

	Thousands $
Final crop output	25,076	23,820
+ Final animal output	7,395	6,331
+ Services and forestry	7,541	7,985
= Final agricultural sector output	40,012	38,136

- Intermediate consumption outlays	21,294	20,638
+ Net government transactions	3,853	7,596
= Gross value added	22,571	25,094

- Capital consumption	7,364	7,508

= Net value added	15,207	17,586

- Factor payments	6,921	7,739
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	5,369	5,764
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	-398	115
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	1,950	1,860

= Net farm income	8,287	9,847

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

	Value of receipts thousand $	Percent of state total farm receipts	Percent of US value
Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2010
1. Greenhouse/nursery	13,000	42.3	0.1
2. Hay	4,057	13.2	0.1
3. Cattle and calves	2,420	7.9	0.0
4. Potatoes	2,381	7.7	0.1
5. Dairy products	1,610	5.2	0.0

All commodities	30,752		0.0

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

	Rank among states	Value million $
Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2010
1. Other	47	4.0
2. Seeds	47	0.6
3. Feed grains and products	43	0.3
4. Live animals and meat	47	0.2
5. Hides and skins	44	0.0

Total export value	50	5.1

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. Anchorage Municipality	55.7	31,752
2. Juneau City and Borough	20.6	11,770
3. Fairbanks North Star Borough	12.4	7,075
4.
5.

State total		57,019

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.
Current Population Survey, Food Security Supplements , 2002-2010, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Regional Economic Information System, April 2011, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.
1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 Census of Population, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce.
2006-2010 American Community Survey, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, Consolidated Federal Funds Report
Organic data, USDA, Economic Research Service, based on information from USDA-accredited State and private organic certifiers.
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: January 17, 2012