USDA Economic Research Service Data Sets
" "  
Search ERS

 
Data Sets

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

State Fact Sheets: Colorado
• 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
Need help?
Questions & Answers
Excel file CO-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file CO-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 451,760 2,437,975 2,889,735
    1990 474,931 2,819,463 3,294,394
    2000 624,576 3,676,685 4,301,261
    2010 687,293 4,341,903 5,029,196

More information on Colorado 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 37,724 44,288 43,386
    2009 35,912 42,842 41,895
    Percent change -4.8 -3.3 -3.4
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 38,141 53,940 51,660
    2009 37,066 53,977 51,573
    Percent change -2.8 0.1 -0.2
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 13.9 9.4 10.1
    1989 16.0 11.0 11.7
    1999 12.3 8.8 9.3
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 13.8 13.1 13.2

More information on Colorado 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 11.3 11.0 13.4
    Very low food security 3.5 4.6 5.4

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) 28.5 20.0 21.4
    1990 (Census) 21.4 14.6 15.6
    2000 (Census) 16.5 12.5 13.1
    2006-2010 (ACS) 13.1 10.3 10.7
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 36.0 34.4 34.6
    1990 (Census) 31.1 25.7 26.5
    2000 (Census) 27.8 22.4 23.2
    2006-2010 (ACS) 28.4 22.5 23.3
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 18.7 21.6 21.1
    1990 (Census) 27.6 31.5 31.0
    2000 (Census) 30.7 31.1 31.0
    2006-2010 (ACS) 30.3 30.1 30.1
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 17.2 24.0 23.0
    1990 (Census) 19.8 28.2 27.0
    2000 (Census) 25.0 34.0 32.7
    2006-2010 (ACS) 28.2 37.2 35.9

More information on Colorado 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 467,506 2,773,360 3,240,866
    2009 448,060 2,703,236 3,151,296
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 -1.4 0.6 0.3
    2008-2009 -2.9 -4.2 -4.0
    2009-2010 -4.9 -1.7 -2.2
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 7.4 8.4 8.3
    2010 8.6 9.0 8.9

More information on Colorado 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 8,287 12,169 11,640
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 437 57 108
      Community resources 1,673 2,793 2,640
      Defense and space 73 2,532 2,198
      Human resources 197 164 169
      Income security 4,901 4,109 4,217
      National functions 1,005 2,514 2,309
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,297 1,196 1,210
      Direct loans 172 384 355
      Guaranteed/insured loans 1,474 2,672 2,509
      Retirement/disability payments 2,715 2,502 2,531
      Other direct payments to
      individuals		 1,333 1,160 1,184
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals		 374 70 111
      Procurement contracts 389 2,315 2,053
      Salaries and wages 532 1,869 1,687

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 123 137 169
Crops (acres) 89,036 78,435 96,374
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 121,171 120,968 10,402
Total acres 210,206 199,403 106,775

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) 66,386,460 66,379,218 66,327,849
    Total farmland (acres) 32,349,832 31,093,336 31,604,911
        Percent of total land area 48.7 46.8 47.6
 
        Cropland (acres) 10,787,080 11,530,700 11,483,936
            Percent of total farmland 33.3 37.1 36.3
            Percent in pasture 6.4 15.6 10.8
            Percent irrigated 25.3 18.9 20.0
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 6,099,357 4,346,955 5,888,926
 
        Woodland (acres) 1,137,890 1,345,230 1,381,543
            Percent of total farmland 3.5 4.3 4.4
            Percent in pasture 56.7 73.9 64.2
 
        Pastureland (acres) 19,417,709 17,341,749 17,830,125
            Percent of total farmland 60.0 55.8 56.4
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)		 1,007,153 875,657 909,307
            Percent of total farmland 3.1 2.8 2.9
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)		 1,569,916 1,735,353 2,489,360
 
Average farm size (acres) 1,071 991 853
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 40.8 43.8 48.5
            100 to 499 acres 27.5 27.1 26.0
            500 to 999 acres 10.3 9.6 8.6
            1000 to 1,999 acres 8.9 7.9 6.8
            2,000 or more acres 12.5 11.5 10.1
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 50.7 60.4 63.9
            $10,000 to $49,999 25.0 20.1 16.1
            $50,000 to $99,999 8.6 6.9 6.2
            $100,000 to $499,999 12.4 9.3 9.7
            More than $500,000 3.3 3.2 4.1
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 18,121 20,809 26,486
            Percent of total 60.0 66.3 71.5
 
        Part owner (farms) 8,512 8,131 8,174
            Percent of total 28.2 25.9 22.1
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 3,564 2,429 2,394
            Percent of total 11.8 7.7 6.5
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)		 25,023 27,280 30,164
            Percent of total 82.9 87.0 81.4
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)		 1,752 1,458 2,103
            Percent of total 5.8 4.6 5.7
 
        Partnerships (farms) 2,892 2,109 3,762
            Percent of total 9.6 6.7 10.2
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 208 171 239
            Percent of total 0.7 0.5 0.6
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)		 322 351 786
            Percent of total 1.1 1.1 2.1
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 53.5 54.5 57.0
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation		 52.3 58.4 40.4
        Men 26,449 26,152 30,112
        Women 3,748 5,217 6,942
 

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 36,200 36,100
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 2,329,648 2,320,104
+     Final animal output 3,338,129 3,806,960
+     Services and forestry 940,876 667,014
=   Final agricultural sector output 6,608,653 6,794,078
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 4,491,426 4,456,298
+     Net government transactions -3,885 73,135
=   Gross value added 2,113,342 2,410,915
 
-      Capital consumption 522,237 531,629
 
=   Net value added 1,591,105 1,879,286
 
-    Factor payments 883,433 844,261
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 517,051 467,326
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 52,230 77,732
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 314,152 299,203
 
=   Net farm income 707,672 1,035,025
 

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. Cattle and calves 2,852,521 47.4 5.5
2. Corn 604,082 10.0 1.3
3. Wheat 500,407 8.3 4.6
4. Dairy products 456,740 7.6 1.5
5. Hay 287,127 4.8 5.3
 
All commodities 6,017,543   1.9
 

More information on Colorado'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. Wheat and products 8 344.4
2. Live animals and meat 12 280.5
3. Feed grains and products 14 196.0
4. Feeds and fodders 9 165.9
5. Hides and skins 5 149.1
 
Total export value 21 1,429.3
 

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. Weld County 25.4 1,539,072
2. Yuma County 11.7 711,391
3. Morgan County 8.1 493,863
4. Logan County 7.3 442,107
5. Kit Carson County 5.6 336,986
 
State total   6,061,134
 

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