U.S. farm household sources of off-farm income, 2024

Most farm households operate residence farms and depend on off-farm (or nonfarm) income to cover at least some portion of their living expenses. Of the total off-farm income earned by all farm operator households, the majority (55 percent) comes from wages and salaries of household members (e.g., operators, spouses, and others), followed by transfers (e.g., Social Security) (22 percent), and earnings from nonfarm businesses (9 percent). The remaining 15 percent comes from all other sources of off-farm income, such as interest and dividends.