Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Virginia

• Population, Income, Education, and Employment
• Farm Characteristics
• Farm Financial Indicators
• Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
• About the State Fact Sheets

Data updated May 9, 2008

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Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,005,072	4,341,725	5,346,797
1990	1,000,091	5,187,267	6,187,358
2000	1,071,452	6,007,063	7,078,515
2007 (latest estimates)	1,104,267	6,607,824	7,712,091
More information on Virginia population • County-level Population Data • Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room • Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Income
Per-capita income (2006 dollars)
2005	26,147	41,388	39,193
2006	26,341	41,754	39,540
Percent change	0.7	0.9	0.9

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	31,836	51,940	49,637
2006	31,350	51,919	49,577
Percent change	-1.6	-0.0	-0.1

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	15.9	10.9	11.8
1989	15.7	9.2	10.2
1999	14.0	8.8	9.6
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	15.2	9.1	10.0
More information on Virginia 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 Robert Gibbs, 202-694-5423

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Education (Persons 25 and older)
Percent not completing high school
1980	56.5	33.0	37.6
1990	41.6	21.5	24.8
2000	31.7	16.0	18.5

Percent completing high school only
1980	25.0	29.2	28.4
1990	30.5	25.9	26.6
2000	33.6	24.5	26.0

Percent completing some college
1980	9.7	16.2	14.9
1990	17.5	25.4	24.0
2000	21.5	26.9	26.0

Percent completing college
1980	8.7	21.6	19.1
1990	10.4	27.3	24.5
2000	13.1	32.6	29.5
More information on Virginia 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
2005	544,591	4,209,727	4,754,318
2006	553,177	4,305,838	4,859,015

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	4.1	2.9	3.0
2007	4.2	2.9	3.0
More information on Virginia 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
2004-2005	1.2	2.3	2.1
2005-2006	0.5	2.6	2.4
2006-2007	1.5	1.5	1.5

Percent of 2002 employment in farm and farm-related jobs
Total	21.5	12.2	13.3
Production	5.5	0.8	1.4
Farm inputs	0.2	0.1	0.1
Processing & marketing	4.0	1.2	1.6
Wholesale & retail trade	10.4	9.4	9.5
More information on farm employment • Farm and Farm-Related Employment data • Contact Tim Parker, 202-694-5435

* Urban and rural (metro and nonmetro) defintions 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

	1992	1997	2002
1992, 1997 and 2002 Census of Agriculture

Total land area (million acres)	24.90	24.90	25.34
Total farmland (million acres)	8.30	8.75	8.62
Percent of total land area	33.3	35.2	34.0

Cropland (million acres)	4.31	4.53	4.19
Percent of total farmland	52.0	51.7	48.6
Percent in pasture	35.4	35.8	30.2
Percent irrigated	1.4	1.8	2.3

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	2.45	2.60	2.62

Woodland (million acres)	2.60	2.74	2.67
Percent of total farmland	31.3	31.3	30.9
Percent in pasture	25.4	23.5	23.9

Pastureland (million acres)	1.10	1.14	1.41
Percent of total farmland	13.3	13.0	16.4

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.28	0.35	0.35
Percent of total farmland	3.4	4.0	4.1

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.06	0.10	0.11
Percent of total farmland	0.7	1.2	1.2

Average farm size (acres)	197	177	181

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	52.5	56.7	56.8
100 to 499 acres	38.5	35.8	35.7
500 to 999 acres	6.0	5.0	4.6
1000 to 1,999 acres	2.3	1.9	2.1
2,000 or more acres	0.7	0.7	0.8

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	60.1	65.9	67.3
$10,000 to $49,999	25.0	21.0	20.6
$50,000 to $99,999	4.6	4.2	3.9
$100,000 to $499,999	8.2	6.2	6.0
More than $500,000	1.8	2.2	2.3

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	26,492	31,995	31,814
Percent of total	62.7	64.8	66.8

Part owner (farms)	12,599	13,847	13,138
Percent of total	29.8	28.0	27.6

Tenant owner (farms)	3,131	3,524	2,654
Percent of total	7.4	7.1	5.6

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	36,866	43,445	42,851
Percent of total	87.3	88.0	90.0

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,160	1,603	1,531
Percent of total	2.7	3.2	3.2

Partnerships (farms)	3,786	3,866	2,757
Percent of total	9.0	7.8	5.8

Non-family corporations (farms)	167	184	192
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.4

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	243	268	275
Percent of total	0.6	0.5	0.6

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	55.6	55.8	56.7
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	46.4	41.5	53.6
Men (persons)	37,993	43,591	40,825
Women (persons)	4,229	5,775	6,781

More information on farm characteristics • Census of Agriculture • Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540. Data from the 1992 Census of Agriculture is not adjusted for coverage. See Coverage Adjustment from NASS.

Farm Financial Indicators

	2005	2006
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	47,000	46,800

	Thousands $
Final crop output	781,082	807,691
+ Final animal output	1,914,809	1,819,412
+ Services and forestry	765,794	785,441
= Final agricultural sector output	3,461,684	3,412,544

- Intermediate consumption outlays	1,700,577	1,819,496
+ Net government transactions	120,414	47,567
= Gross value added	1,881,521	1,640,616

- Capital consumption	535,923	567,859

= Net value added	1,345,598	1,072,757

- Factor payments	378,547	394,724
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	231,613	238,175
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	-13,589	-25,612
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	160,523	182,161

= Net farm income	967,051	678,033

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, 2006
1. Broilers	506,236	18.8	2.7
2. Cattle and calves	426,086	15.8	0.9
3. Dairy products	266,213	9.9	1.1
4. Turkeys	260,709	9.7	7.5
5. Greenhouse/nursery	237,400	8.8	1.4

All commodities	2,688,669		1.1

More information on Virginia's top agriculture commodities • Leading commodities for cash receipts in Excel • Contact Roger Strickland, 202-694-5592.

	Rank among states	Value million $
Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2006
1. Wheat and products	23	86.7
2. Poultry and products	9	86.4
3. Other	20	82.0
4. Live animals and meat	16	78.4
5. Tobacco unmfd.	4	59.4

Overall rank	31	588.2

More information on agricultural exports • State Export Data • Agricultural Trade Briefing Room • Contact Nora Brooks, 202-694-5211.

	Percent of state total receipts	Million $
Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2002
1. Rockingham County	18.9	446.7
2. Augusta County	6.1	143.9
3. Accomack County	4.6	109.1
4. Page County	4.6	108.7
5. Shenandoah County	3.0	69.7

State total		2,360.9

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, June 2005, 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: May 9, 2008