Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Pennsylvania

• 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	1,863,337	10,001,383	11,864,720
1990	1,866,587	10,015,056	11,881,643
2000	1,961,307	10,319,747	12,281,054
2008 (latest estimates)	1,980,386	10,467,893	12,448,279
More information on Pennsylvania 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	28,206	39,681	37,848
2007	28,883	40,672	38,793
Percent change	4.8	5.0	5.0

Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
2006	35,147	50,203	48,137
2007	35,685	50,689	48,635
Percent change	3.1	1.9	2.1

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	11.0	10.4	10.5
1989	12.5	10.9	11.1
1999	11.3	10.9	11.0
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	12.4	11.5	11.6
More information on Pennsylvania 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	38.6	34.7	35.3
1990	28.2	24.8	25.3
2000	20.3	17.7	18.1

Percent completing high school only
1980	44.0	39.8	40.4
1990	45.9	37.2	38.6
2000	47.0	36.4	38.1

Percent completing some college
1980	8.6	11.1	10.7
1990	14.6	18.8	18.2
2000	18.8	22.0	21.4

Percent completing college
1980	9.1	14.4	13.6
1990	11.2	19.2	17.9
2000	13.9	24.0	22.4
More information on Pennsylvania 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	993,112	6,242,272	7,235,384
2007	1,000,192	6,304,755	7,304,947

Unemployment rate (percent)
2007	4.7	4.3	4.4
2008	5.9	5.3	5.4
More information on Pennsylvania 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	0.5	1.1	1.0
2006-2007	0.5	0.4	0.4
2007-2008	0.2	0.5	0.5

* 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)	28,684,522	28,682,630	28,631,687
Total farmland (acres)	7,819,648	7,745,336	7,809,244
Percent of total land area	27.3	27.0	27.3

Cropland (acres)	5,388,837	5,120,685	4,870,287
Percent of total farmland	68.9	66.1	62.4
Percent in pasture	14.1	11.5	8.2
Percent irrigated	0.7	0.8	0.8

Harvested Cropland (acres)	4,219,115	4,079,276	3,942,079

Woodland (acres)	1,563,874	1,579,829	1,717,791
Percent of total farmland	20.0	20.4	22.0
Percent in pasture	14.7	14.0	8.7

Pastureland (acres)	421,180	526,723	732,275
Percent of total farmland	5.4	6.8	9.4

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	445,757	518,099	488,891
Percent of total farmland	5.7	6.7	6.3

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	117,712	190,959	232,543

Average farm size (acres)	130	133	124

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	59.7	60.2	64.4
100 to 499 acres	36.4	35.6	31.8
500 to 999 acres	3.1	3.1	2.9
1000 to 1,999 acres	0.7	0.9	0.8
2,000 or more acres	0.2	0.2	0.2

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	54.7	60.9	61.5
$10,000 to $49,999	20.2	16.0	16.8
$50,000 to $99,999	8.1	6.6	4.9
$100,000 to $499,999	14.7	14.1	13.3
More than $500,000	2.3	2.5	3.5

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	38,098	39,742	44,616
Percent of total	63.3	68.4	70.6

Part owner (farms)	16,175	13,976	14,333
Percent of total	26.9	24.1	22.7

Tenant owner (farms)	5,949	4,387	4,214
Percent of total	9.9	7.6	6.7

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	54,039	53,201	57,749
Percent of total	89.7	91.6	91.4

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,277	1,077	1,480
Percent of total	2.1	1.9	2.3

Partnerships (farms)	4,509	3,428	3,265
Percent of total	7.5	5.9	5.2

Non-family corporations (farms)	158	172	239
Percent of total	0.3	0.3	0.4

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	239	227	430
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.7

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	52.4	53.1	55.2
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	50.3	56.7	45.5
Men	55,213	52,026	54,613
Women	5,009	6,079	8,550

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	63,200	63,200

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,919,397	2,124,661
+ Final animal output	3,887,422	3,921,570
+ Services and forestry	930,580	974,233
= Final agricultural sector output	6,737,399	7,020,463

- Intermediate consumption outlays	3,415,512	3,739,610
+ Net government transactions	-248,202	-321,307
= Gross value added	3,073,685	2,959,546

- Capital consumption	792,756	836,493

= Net value added	2,280,929	2,123,053

- Factor payments	744,711	672,560
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	629,809	603,051
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	-129,525	-165,028
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	244,427	234,537

= Net farm income	1,536,218	1,450,493

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	2,102,200	34.3	6.0
2. Cattle and calves	493,627	8.1	1.0
3. Chicken eggs	487,467	8.0	5.9
4. Corn	482,834	7.9	0.9
5. Mushrooms, Agaricus	453,013	7.4	66.0

All commodities	6,122,331		1.9

More information on Pennsylvania'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. Other	3	624.3
2. Wheat and products	21	248.3
3. Live animals and meat	14	243.7
4. Feed grains and products	16	165.8
5. Dairy products	7	142.5

Overall rank	19	1,910.9

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. Lancaster County	18.5	1,072,151
2. Chester County	9.5	553,290
3. Berks County	6.3	367,840
4. Franklin County	5.2	304,450
5. Lebanon County	4.4	257,097

State total		5,808,803

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