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State Fact Sheets: South Carolina
• 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 SC-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file SC-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 844,294 2,276,435 3,120,729
    1990 893,647 2,593,056 3,486,703
    2000 1,010,159 3,001,853 4,012,012
    2010 1,089,270 3,536,094 4,625,364

More information on South Carolina 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 30,007 33,837 32,931
    2009 29,848 33,318 32,505
    Percent change -0.5 -1.5 -1.3
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 35,938 41,402 40,311
    2009 36,178 42,086 40,910
    Percent change 0.7 1.7 1.5
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 20.7 15.1 16.6
    1989 20.3 13.7 15.4
    1999 17.6 12.9 14.1
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 21.7 17.0 18.1

More information on South Carolina 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 14.8 13.1 14.8
    Very low food security 5.5 5.0 5.0

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) 53.5 43.7 46.3
    1990 (Census) 38.9 29.3 31.7
    2000 (Census) 29.1 21.8 23.7
    2006-2010 (ACS) 21.4 15.6 17.0
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 26.0 27.6 27.1
    1990 (Census) 31.0 29.0 29.5
    2000 (Census) 32.8 29.0 30.0
    2006-2010 (ACS) 35.1 30.0 31.2
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 10.4 14.3 13.2
    1990 (Census) 17.8 23.6 22.2
    2000 (Census) 22.5 27.1 25.9
    2006-2010 (ACS) 25.1 28.7 27.8
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 10.5 14.5 13.4
    1990 (Census) 12.4 18.1 16.6
    2000 (Census) 15.6 22.0 20.4
    2006-2010 (ACS) 18.4 25.7 24.0

More information on South Carolina 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 511,501 2,049,595 2,561,096
    2009 488,362 1,965,080 2,453,442
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 -0.9 0.1 -0.1
    2008-2009 -4.0 -3.4 -3.5
    2009-2010 -0.9 -0.1 -0.3
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 14.3 10.5 11.3
    2010 13.8 10.4 11.2

More information on South Carolina 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 9,842 10,591 10,415
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 109 48 62
      Community resources 723 1,312 1,174
      Defense and space 1,166 1,819 1,666
      Human resources 249 156 178
      Income security 7,087 5,433 5,822
      National functions 508 1,822 1,513
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,901 1,163 1,337
      Direct loans 203 231 224
      Guaranteed/insured loans 536 1,227 1,064
      Retirement/disability payments 3,719 3,346 3,434
      Other direct payments to
      individuals		 1,932 1,381 1,511
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals		 109 81 87
      Procurement contracts 881 2,033 1,762
      Salaries and wages 562 1,129 996

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 17 40 18
Crops (acres) 274 274 122
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 105 105  
Total acres 379 379 122

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) 19,271,119 19,270,060 19,255,034
    Total farmland (acres) 4,974,138 4,845,923 4,889,339
        Percent of total land area 25.8 25.1 25.4
 
        Cropland (acres) 2,603,915 2,270,084 2,151,219
            Percent of total farmland 52.3 46.8 44.0
            Percent in pasture 21.2 17.4 12.3
            Percent irrigated 3.4 4.0 5.7
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 1,732,870 1,374,617 1,551,670
 
        Woodland (acres) 1,789,751 1,850,968 1,827,191
            Percent of total farmland 36.0 38.2 37.4
            Percent in pasture 18.7 20.4 12.0
 
        Pastureland (acres) 282,162 448,140 617,136
            Percent of total farmland 5.7 9.2 12.6
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)		 298,310 276,731 293,793
            Percent of total farmland 6.0 5.7 6.0
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)		 244,488 228,443 264,950
 
Average farm size (acres) 193 197 189
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 59.5 61.6 61.3
            100 to 499 acres 32.1 30.1 31.3
            500 to 999 acres 4.9 4.5 4.1
            1000 to 1,999 acres 2.4 2.6 2.1
            2,000 or more acres 1.1 1.3 1.2
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 73.1 78.4 76.6
            $10,000 to $49,999 14.5 12.4 13.8
            $50,000 to $99,999 3.0 2.4 2.6
            $100,000 to $499,999 5.9 4.0 3.3
            More than $500,000 3.5 2.8 3.7
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 17,287 18,476 19,440
            Percent of total 67.0 75.3 75.2
 
        Part owner (farms) 6,931 5,059 5,384
            Percent of total 26.9 20.6 20.8
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 1,589 1,006 1,043
            Percent of total 6.2 4.1 4.0
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)		 23,328 22,755 22,989
            Percent of total 90.4 92.7 88.9
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)		 647 477 745
            Percent of total 2.5 1.9 2.9
 
        Partnerships (farms) 1,576 1,050 1,827
            Percent of total 6.1 4.3 7.1
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 99 79 100
            Percent of total 0.4 0.3 0.4
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)		 157 180 206
            Percent of total 0.6 0.7 0.8
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 55.9 56.9 58.5
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation		 36.7 46.4 37.7
        Men 22,894 21,030 21,782
        Women 2,913 3,511 4,085
 

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 27,000 27,000
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 942,380 1,016,864
+     Final animal output 1,250,019 1,373,654
+     Services and forestry 395,958 355,786
=   Final agricultural sector output 2,588,357 2,746,304
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 1,579,032 1,782,481
+     Net government transactions 104,478 78,997
=   Gross value added 1,113,803 1,042,820
 
-      Capital consumption 269,294 275,305
 
=   Net value added 844,509 767,515
 
-    Factor payments 267,254 272,363
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 159,256 161,573
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 8,644 16,544
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 99,354 94,246
 
=   Net farm income 577,255 495,153
 

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. Broilers 750,426 31.5 3.2
2. Turkeys 262,050 11.0 6.0
3. Greenhouse/nursery 248,318 10.4 1.6
4. Cattle and calves 129,513 5.4 0.3
5. Corn 128,700 5.4 0.3
 
All commodities 2,384,737   0.8
 

More information on South Carolina'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. Poultry and products 10 135.4
2. Cotton and linters 13 93.7
3. Soybeans and products 24 69.4
4. Other 22 67.0
5. Wheat and products 28 55.1
 
Total export value 34 568.6
 

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. Kershaw County 7.2 169,475
2. Lexington County 7.1 166,456
3. Orangeburg County 6.4 149,745
4. Oconee County 5.5 128,835
5. Aiken County 4.4 102,796
 
State total   2,352,681
 

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