USDA Economic Research Service Data Sets
" "  
" "

 
Data Sets

Print this page Print | E-mail this page E-mail | Bookmark & ShareBookmark/share | Translate Translate | Text only Text only | resize text smallresize text mediumresize text large

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

Data Download
Need help?
Questions & Answers
Excel file PA-fact-sheet.xls

Population, Income, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
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.

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
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

Education (Persons 25 and older)
  Rural * Urban * Total
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

Employment
  Rural * Urban * Total
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 and 2007 Census of Agriculture
 
  1997 2002 2007
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

Farm income and value added data
  2007 2008
 
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

Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2008
  Value of receipts
thousand $
Percent of state total
farm receipts
Percent of US value
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.

Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2008
  Rank among states Value
million $
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.

Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2007
  Percent of state total receipts Thousands $
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

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