Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Colorado

• 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	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
2007 (latest estimates)	672,347	4,189,168	4,861,515
More information on Colorado 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	31,282	40,038	38,813
2006	32,258	40,658	39,491
Percent change	3.1	1.5	1.7

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,764	50,502	47,937
2006	32,716	50,417	47,832
Percent change	-0.1	-0.2	-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
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	13.0	10.6	10.9
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 Robert Gibbs, 202-694-5423

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Education (Persons 25 and older)
Percent not completing high school
1980	28.5	20.0	21.4
1990	21.4	14.6	15.6
2000	16.5	12.5	13.1

Percent completing high school only
1980	36.0	34.4	34.6
1990	31.1	25.7	26.5
2000	27.8	22.4	23.2

Percent completing some college
1980	18.7	21.6	21.1
1990	27.6	31.5	31.0
2000	30.7	31.1	31.0

Percent completing college
1980	17.2	24.0	23.0
1990	19.8	28.2	27.0
2000	25.0	34.0	32.7
More information on Colorado 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	445,356	2,634,492	3,079,848
2006	463,693	2,711,575	3,175,268

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	3.9	4.4	4.3
2007	3.3	3.9	3.8
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

Percent employment change
2004-2005	3.3	2.3	2.4
2005-2006	4.7	3.2	3.4
2006-2007	3.2	2.5	2.6

* 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)	66.39	66.39	66.38
Total farmland (million acres)	33.98	32.35	31.09
Percent of total land area	51.2	48.7	46.8

Cropland (million acres)	10.93	10.79	11.53
Percent of total farmland	32.2	33.3	37.1
Percent in pasture	10.8	6.4	15.6
Percent irrigated	24.2	25.3	18.9

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	5.53	6.10	4.35

Woodland (million acres)	1.18	1.14	1.35
Percent of total farmland	3.5	3.5	4.3
Percent in pasture	79.1	56.7	73.9

Pastureland (million acres)	21.31	19.42	17.34
Percent of total farmland	62.7	60.0	55.8

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.55	1.01	0.88
Percent of total farmland	1.6	3.1	2.8

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	1.33	1.57	1.74
Percent of total farmland	3.9	4.9	5.6

Average farm size (acres)	1,252	1,071	991

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	35.9	40.8	43.8
100 to 499 acres	27.6	27.5	27.1
500 to 999 acres	11.7	10.3	9.6
1000 to 1,999 acres	10.1	8.9	7.9
2,000 or more acres	14.6	12.5	11.5

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	44.2	50.7	60.4
$10,000 to $49,999	27.0	25.0	20.1
$50,000 to $99,999	10.6	8.6	6.9
$100,000 to $499,999	14.7	12.4	9.3
More than $500,000	3.4	3.3	3.2

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	14,707	18,121	20,809
Percent of total	54.2	60.0	66.3

Part owner (farms)	8,711	8,512	8,131
Percent of total	32.1	28.2	25.9

Tenant owner (farms)	3,734	3,564	2,429
Percent of total	13.8	11.8	7.7

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	22,359	25,023	27,280
Percent of total	82.3	82.9	87.0

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,417	1,752	1,458
Percent of total	5.2	5.8	4.6

Partnerships (farms)	2,890	2,892	2,109
Percent of total	10.6	9.6	6.7

Non-family corporations (farms)	232	208	171
Percent of total	0.9	0.7	0.5

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	254	322	351
Percent of total	0.9	1.1	1.1

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	52.9	53.5	54.5
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	59.6	52.3	58.4
Men (persons)	24,654	26,449	26,152
Women (persons)	2,498	3,748	5,217

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	30,700	31,000

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,597,860	2,156,640
+ Final animal output	4,168,490	4,331,883
+ Services and forestry	788,195	837,564
= Final agricultural sector output	6,554,545	7,326,087

- Intermediate consumption outlays	4,503,271	4,521,773
+ Net government transactions	83,950	12,183
= Gross value added	2,135,224	2,816,497

- Capital consumption	451,703	467,572

= Net value added	1,683,521	2,348,925

- Factor payments	805,187	813,561
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	481,640	492,023
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	33,845	9,024
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	289,702	312,514

= Net farm income	878,334	1,535,364

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. Cattle and calves	3,174,908	50.5	6.4
2. Dairy products	515,503	8.2	1.5
3. Wheat	418,612	6.7	3.9
4. Corn	382,489	6.1	1.1
5. Hay	362,562	5.8	5.8

All commodities	6,290,113		2.2

More information on Colorado'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. Wheat and products	8	336.9
2. Live animals and meat	12	192.5
3. Feed grains and products	15	145.9
4. Hides and skins	5	133.8
5. Other	21	83.1

Overall rank	25	1,118.6

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. Weld County	24.9	1,127.9
2. Yuma County	12.0	542.7
3. Morgan County	9.9	448.0
4. Logan County	7.7	350.1
5. Kit Carson County	4.5	205.6

State total		4,525.2

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