Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Louisiana

• 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

Data Download
Need help?
Questions & Answers
Excel file

LA-fact-sheet.xls

Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,117,072	3,089,044	4,206,116
1990	1,091,103	3,128,870	4,219,973
2000	1,128,309	3,340,667	4,468,976
2007 (latest estimates)	1,133,552	3,159,652	4,293,204
More information on Louisiana 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	23,566	26,411	25,704
2006	25,103	34,266	31,821
Percent change	6.5	29.7	23.8

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,730	39,226	37,937
2006	34,089	42,736	40,956
Percent change	4.0	8.2	7.4

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	24.0	16.7	18.6
1989	29.7	21.5	23.6
1999	24.2	18.1	19.6
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	24.5	18.8	20.2
More information on Louisiana 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	52.5	38.7	42.3
1990	40.5	28.7	31.7
2000	32.6	22.7	25.2

Percent completing high school only
1980	29.0	31.6	30.9
1990	34.1	30.8	31.7
2000	36.5	31.1	32.4

Percent completing some college
1980	9.0	14.2	12.8
1990	15.2	22.3	20.5
2000	18.8	25.3	23.7

Percent completing college
1980	9.3	15.5	13.9
1990	10.2	18.1	16.1
2000	12.1	20.9	18.7
More information on Louisiana 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	485,478	1,962,053	2,447,531
2006	502,024	1,937,004	2,439,028

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	4.2	3.6	3.8
2007	4.5	3.6	3.8
More information on Louisiana 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	-36.5	-27.8
2005-2006	3.5	2.5	2.8
2006-2007	-0.2	50.7	34.5

* 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)	27.88	27.88	27.88
Total farmland (million acres)	7.84	8.37	7.83
Percent of total land area	28.1	30.0	28.1

Cropland (million acres)	5.55	5.57	5.07
Percent of total farmland	70.9	66.5	64.8
Percent in pasture	15.8	16.3	16.6
Percent irrigated	16.0	17.1	18.3

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	3.81	4.02	3.33

Woodland (million acres)	0.99	1.07	1.02
Percent of total farmland	12.6	12.8	13.0
Percent in pasture	39.5	32.0	29.5

Pastureland (million acres)	0.99	1.10	1.19
Percent of total farmland	12.7	13.1	15.3

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.30	0.64	0.55
Percent of total farmland	3.9	7.6	7.0

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.08	0.18	0.27
Percent of total farmland	1.0	2.2	3.5

Average farm size (acres)	306	275	286

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	50.9	57.0	57.7
100 to 499 acres	32.0	29.1	28.4
500 to 999 acres	9.6	7.0	6.7
1000 to 1,999 acres	5.2	4.6	4.6
2,000 or more acres	2.2	2.4	2.7

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	58.8	65.2	66.5
$10,000 to $49,999	18.0	16.0	16.3
$50,000 to $99,999	6.5	4.4	4.7
$100,000 to $499,999	13.8	10.9	9.0
More than $500,000	2.4	3.7	3.5

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	13,751	17,769	17,184
Percent of total	53.6	58.4	62.7

Part owner (farms)	8,018	8,753	7,358
Percent of total	31.3	28.8	26.8

Tenant owner (farms)	3,883	3,903	2,871
Percent of total	15.1	12.8	10.5

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	22,310	26,736	24,915
Percent of total	87.0	87.9	90.9

Family-held corporations (farms)	972	1,214	952
Percent of total	3.8	4.0	3.5

Partnerships (farms)	2,032	2,141	1,323
Percent of total	7.9	7.0	4.8

Non-family corporations (farms)	133	120	89
Percent of total	0.5	0.4	0.3

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	205	214	134
Percent of total	0.8	0.7	0.5

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.5	53.5	55.1
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	50.4	43.8	54.0
Men (persons)	23,786	27,908	24,866
Women (persons)	1,866	2,517	2,547

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	26,800	26,800

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,345,783	1,788,306
+ Final animal output	891,739	966,102
+ Services and forestry	372,328	391,201
= Final agricultural sector output	2,609,850	3,145,609

- Intermediate consumption outlays	1,475,479	1,654,317
+ Net government transactions	283,428	219,743
= Gross value added	1,417,799	1,711,035

- Capital consumption	261,170	268,882

= Net value added	1,156,629	1,442,153

- Factor payments	475,635	493,135
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	179,382	179,541
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	158,134	164,673
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	138,119	148,921

= Net farm income	680,994	949,018

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. Cane for sugar	371,332	13.7	40.9
2. Corn	309,032	11.4	0.9
3. Cotton	271,629	10.0	4.4
4. Rice	231,893	8.6	11.1
5. Cattle and calves	193,891	7.2	0.4

All commodities	2,710,224		1.0

More information on Louisiana'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. Cotton and linters	8	153.3
2. Rice	3	144.3
3. Feed grains and products	16	135.5
4. Soybeans and products	17	105.7
5. Wheat and products	31	47.3

Overall rank	30	695.3

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. Union Parish	6.6	120.7
2. Lincoln Parish	3.9	70.3
3. Rapides Parish	3.7	66.7
4. Sabine Parish	3.7	66.7
5. Franklin Parish	3.3	59.5

State total		1,815.8

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