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State Fact Sheets: Washington
• 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

Data Download
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Excel file WA-Fact-Sheet.xls
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Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 574,279 3,558,074 4,132,353
    1990 624,483 4,242,209 4,866,692
    2000 740,956 5,153,165 5,894,121
    2010 824,155 5,900,385 6,724,540

More information on Washington population
• County-level Population Data
• Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room
• Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2009 dollars)
    2008 32,551 45,078 43,537
    2009 32,439 44,324 42,870
    Percent change -0.3 -1.7 -1.5
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 36,792 54,714 52,913
    2009 36,814 55,556 53,666
    Percent change 0.1 1.5 1.4
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 12.6 9.4 9.8
    1989 15.8 10.2 10.9
    1999 15.1 10.0 10.6
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 17.2 13.0 13.5

More information on Washington 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 12.0 10.1 14.7
    Very low food security 4.3 3.5 6.1

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) 27.3 21.6 22.4
    1990 (Census) 21.6 15.4 16.2
    2000 (Census) 16.9 12.3 12.9
    2006-2010 (ACS) 12.7 10.1 10.4
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 39.0 37.1 37.4
    1990 (Census) 32.0 27.3 27.9
    2000 (Census) 29.2 24.3 24.9
    2006-2010 (ACS) 29.3 23.6 24.3
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 19.0 21.7 21.3
    1990 (Census) 30.1 33.4 33.0
    2000 (Census) 34.2 34.5 34.4
    2006-2010 (ACS) 35.7 34.1 34.3
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 14.7 19.6 19.0
    1990 (Census) 16.3 23.9 22.9
    2000 (Census) 19.7 28.9 27.7
    2006-2010 (ACS) 22.2 32.3 31.0

More information on Washington 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
    2008 397,643 3,559,754 3,957,397
    2009 385,856 3,440,459 3,826,315
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 1.7 1.6 1.6
    2008-2009 -2.7 -2.4 -2.5
    2009-2010 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 10.1 9.2 9.3
    2010 10.4 9.5 9.6

More information on Washington 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 10,563 11,687 11,549
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 547 51 112
      Community resources 1,568 2,393 2,292
      Defense and space 711 2,178 1,999
      Human resources 204 180 183
      Income security 6,441 4,972 5,152
      National functions 1,092 1,913 1,812
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,325 1,590 1,557
      Direct loans 312 183 199
      Guaranteed/insured loans 1,333 2,209 2,102
      Retirement/disability payments 4,023 2,890 3,029
      Other direct payments to
      individuals		 1,670 1,281 1,329
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals		 536 83 139
      Procurement contracts 617 1,610 1,489
      Salaries and wages 748 1,840 1,706

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 558 631 697
Crops (acres) 56,137 67,668 82,755
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 10,651 13,831 13,411
Total acres 66,788 81,499 96,166

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) 42,611,998 42,588,197 42,540,079
    Total farmland (acres) 15,778,606 15,318,008 14,972,789
        Percent of total land area 37.0 36.0 35.2
 
        Cropland (acres) 8,291,529 8,038,469 7,609,210
            Percent of total farmland 52.5 52.5 50.8
            Percent in pasture 6.3 6.2 4.9
            Percent irrigated 20.1 20.8 20.9
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 5,160,717 4,894,634 4,387,169
 
        Woodland (acres) 1,907,637 1,932,794 1,988,322
            Percent of total farmland 12.1 12.6 13.3
            Percent in pasture 79.8 78.3 76.3
 
        Pastureland (acres) 5,046,711 4,847,324 4,775,287
            Percent of total farmland 32.0 31.6 31.9
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)		 532,729 499,421 599,970
            Percent of total farmland 3.4 3.3 4.0
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)		 1,018,383 1,267,744 1,602,342
 
Average farm size (acres) 393 426 381
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 70.9 69.2 71.7
            100 to 499 acres 16.8 17.9 16.9
            500 to 999 acres 4.4 4.5 4.4
            1000 to 1,999 acres 3.7 3.8 3.1
            2,000 or more acres 4.1 4.5 3.9
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 61.3 59.4 66.1
            $10,000 to $49,999 15.2 16.2 14.3
            $50,000 to $99,999 5.8 6.0 4.4
            $100,000 to $499,999 12.8 12.9 9.0
            More than $500,000 4.8 5.5 6.2
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 28,070 26,244 30,268
            Percent of total 70.0 73.0 77.0
 
        Part owner (farms) 8,424 7,199 6,593
            Percent of total 21.0 20.0 16.8
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 3,619 2,496 2,423
            Percent of total 9.0 6.9 6.2
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)		 33,711 30,525 32,547
            Percent of total 84.0 84.9 82.9
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)		 2,805 2,560 2,969
            Percent of total 7.0 7.1 7.6
 
        Partnerships (farms) 2,998 2,280 2,932
            Percent of total 7.5 6.3 7.5
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 307 188 297
            Percent of total 0.8 0.5 0.8
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)		 292 386 539
            Percent of total 0.7 1.1 1.4
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 53.2 55.4 57.0
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation		 46.5 58.5 45.9
        Men 34,734 30,307 31,194
        Women 5,379 5,632 8,090
 

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 39,500 39,500
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 4,885,998 5,576,699
+     Final animal output 1,617,261 2,044,999
+     Services and forestry 847,763 703,823
=   Final agricultural sector output 7,351,022 8,325,521
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 4,028,028 4,010,208
+     Net government transactions -64,263 52,722
=   Gross value added 3,258,731 4,368,034
 
-      Capital consumption 563,003 573,258
 
=   Net value added 2,695,728 3,794,776
 
-    Factor payments 1,893,595 1,880,502
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 1,503,417 1,384,935
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 103,029 222,297
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 287,149 273,270
 
=   Net farm income 802,134 1,914,275
 

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

Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2010
  Value of receipts
thousand $		 Percent of state total
farm receipts		 Percent of US value
1. Apples 1,478,263 19.8 65.5
2. Dairy products 947,485 12.7 3.0
3. Wheat 720,770 9.7 6.6
4. Cattle and calves 653,474 8.8 1.3
5. Potatoes 542,052 7.3 17.8
 
All commodities 7,448,370   2.4
 

More information on Washington'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. Fruits and preparations 2 1,067.3
2. Vegetables and preparations 2 682.4
3. Wheat and products 5 435.6
4. Live animals and meat 17 117.6
5. Other 11 98.6
 
Total export value 15 2,646.1
 

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. Yakima County 17.7 1,203,806
2. Grant County 17.5 1,190,191
3. Benton County 7.7 525,918
4. Franklin County 6.9 467,014
5. Walla Walla County 5.1 344,489
 
State total   6,792,856
 

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: January 17, 2012