Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Arkansas

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

Data updated October 22, 2008

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Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,094,847	1,191,510	2,286,357
1990	1,073,804	1,276,921	2,350,725
2000	1,156,949	1,516,451	2,673,400
2007 (latest estimates)	1,147,601	1,687,196	2,834,797
More information on Arkansas 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	23,810	30,703	27,860
2006	24,371	31,304	28,473
Percent change	2.4	2.0	2.2

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	30,097	39,224	35,888
2006	29,636	38,974	35,587
Percent change	-1.6	-0.6	-0.8

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	22.5	15.6	19.0
1989	22.8	15.9	19.1
1999	18.2	14.1	15.8
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	20.2	15.1	17.2
More information on Arkansas 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	50.9	38.6	44.5
1990	39.5	28.7	33.7
2000	29.3	21.1	24.7

Percent completing high school only
1980	32.0	34.6	33.2
1990	33.7	31.9	32.7
2000	36.6	32.2	34.1

Percent completing some college
1980	9.2	13.6	11.5
1990	17.0	23.1	20.3
2000	22.0	26.6	24.5

Percent completing college
1980	8.3	13.2	10.8
1990	9.8	16.3	13.3
2000	12.2	20.2	16.7
More information on Arkansas 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	571,727	992,245	1,563,972
2006	580,858	1,020,481	1,601,339

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	6.2	4.7	5.3
2007	6.4	4.8	5.4
More information on Arkansas 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	2.6	4.6	3.8
2005-2006	1.7	1.1	1.4
2006-2007	-0.4	1.0	0.5

* 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)	33.33	33.33	33.32
Total farmland (million acres)	14.13	14.82	14.50
Percent of total land area	42.4	44.5	43.5

Cropland (million acres)	10.06	10.27	9.58
Percent of total farmland	71.2	69.3	66.0
Percent in pasture	20.5	19.9	17.8
Percent irrigated	26.7	36.7	43.3

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	7.30	7.81	7.46

Woodland (million acres)	2.23	2.47	2.37
Percent of total farmland	15.8	16.6	16.3
Percent in pasture	44.4	41.6	38.4

Pastureland (million acres)	1.44	1.55	1.98
Percent of total farmland	10.2	10.4	13.6

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.39	0.54	0.58
Percent of total farmland	2.8	3.6	4.0

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.13	0.19	0.15
Percent of total farmland	1.0	1.3	1.0

Average farm size (acres)	322	300	305

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	40.3	44.5	46.0
100 to 499 acres	42.9	40.4	39.5
500 to 999 acres	9.5	8.3	7.4
1000 to 1,999 acres	5.2	4.7	4.5
2,000 or more acres	2.2	2.1	2.6

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	51.9	57.0	60.3
$10,000 to $49,999	20.0	18.0	17.9
$50,000 to $99,999	5.9	4.2	3.9
$100,000 to $499,999	18.0	14.3	12.2
More than $500,000	4.1	6.6	5.8

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	26,237	30,914	31,523
Percent of total	59.7	62.5	66.4

Part owner (farms)	12,584	13,305	12,291
Percent of total	28.6	26.9	25.9

Tenant owner (farms)	5,116	5,274	3,669
Percent of total	11.6	10.7	7.7

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	38,221	43,020	43,458
Percent of total	87.0	86.9	91.5

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,541	1,985	1,054
Percent of total	3.5	4.0	2.2

Partnerships (farms)	3,824	4,095	2,626
Percent of total	8.7	8.3	5.5

Non-family corporations (farms)	173	157	128
Percent of total	0.4	0.3	0.3

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	178	236	217
Percent of total	0.4	0.5	0.5

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.0	53.4	54.9
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	53.0	47.8	57.7
Men (persons)	40,338	44,922	42,644
Women (persons)	3,599	4,571	4,839

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

	2006	2007
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	46,500	46,500

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,394,570	2,874,745
+ Final animal output	3,670,462	4,152,946
+ Services and forestry	800,496	792,216
= Final agricultural sector output	6,865,528	7,819,907

- Intermediate consumption outlays	4,377,359	4,678,525
+ Net government transactions	400,417	346,741
= Gross value added	2,888,587	3,488,123

- Capital consumption	493,058	506,880

= Net value added	2,395,529	2,981,243

- Factor payments	739,887	820,096
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	246,808	266,239
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	147,264	183,680
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	345,815	370,177

= Net farm income	1,655,642	2,161,147

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, 2007
1. Broilers	2,609,544	36.6	12.2
2. Rice	1,017,745	14.3	48.8
3. Soybeans	750,787	10.5	3.6
4. Cotton	661,239	9.3	10.7
5. Cattle and calves	519,701	7.3	1.0

All commodities	7,138,450		2.5

More information on Arkansas'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 2007
1. Rice	1	640.2
2. Soybeans and products	10	428.4
3. Cotton and linters	2	415.7
4. Poultry and products	2	380.2
5. Feed grains and products	18	112.5

Overall rank	12	2,164.5

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. Benton County	7.3	360.9
2. Washington County	6.3	313.6
3. Carroll County	3.2	157.6
4. Hempstead County	2.9	143.6
5. Mississippi County	2.7	135.5

State total		4,950.4

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, April 2006, 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: October 22, 2008