Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Mississippi

• 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	1,570,899	949,871	2,520,770
1990	1,549,014	1,024,202	2,573,216
2000	1,650,106	1,194,552	2,844,658
2007 (latest estimates)	1,639,585	1,279,200	2,918,785
More information on Mississippi 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	24,309	28,869	26,312
2006	24,437	30,394	27,028
Percent change	0.5	5.3	2.7

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,571	37,857	35,089
2006	31,890	38,630	35,089
Percent change	-2.1	2.0	0.0

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	26.9	19.0	23.9
1989	28.4	20.3	25.2
1999	23.1	15.6	19.9
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	24.5	16.5	21.0
More information on Mississippi 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	50.3	36.6	45.2
1990	40.6	28.4	35.7
2000	31.7	21.0	27.1

Percent completing high school only
1980	27.0	32.0	29.2
1990	27.6	27.4	27.5
2000	30.4	27.9	29.4

Percent completing some college
1980	11.6	16.2	13.3
1990	19.5	25.8	22.0
2000	23.8	30.4	26.6

Percent completing college
1980	10.5	15.2	12.3
1990	12.3	18.4	14.7
2000	14.1	20.7	16.9
More information on Mississippi 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	788,239	716,732	1,504,971
2006	804,605	726,768	1,531,373

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	7.1	6.4	6.7
2007	7.2	5.3	6.3
More information on Mississippi 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	-0.6	-0.9	-0.7
2005-2006	-0.3	-1.4	-0.8
2006-2007	0.6	2.6	1.5

* 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)	30.02	30.02	30.02
Total farmland (million acres)	10.19	11.44	11.10
Percent of total land area	33.9	38.1	37.0

Cropland (million acres)	6.52	6.32	5.82
Percent of total farmland	64.0	55.3	52.5
Percent in pasture	20.4	19.7	15.4
Percent irrigated	13.5	17.5	20.2

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	4.40	4.52	4.14

Woodland (million acres)	2.32	3.35	3.26
Percent of total farmland	22.7	29.3	29.4
Percent in pasture	36.0	23.9	24.7

Pastureland (million acres)	0.96	1.09	1.40
Percent of total farmland	9.4	9.5	12.6

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.40	0.67	0.61
Percent of total farmland	3.9	5.9	5.5

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.33	0.73	0.81
Percent of total farmland	3.2	6.4	7.3

Average farm size (acres)	318	271	263

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	41.1	48.1	51.3
100 to 499 acres	44.3	40.3	38.8
500 to 999 acres	7.9	6.2	5.0
1000 to 1,999 acres	4.3	3.2	2.7
2,000 or more acres	2.5	2.1	2.3

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	63.5	72.6	74.1
$10,000 to $49,999	18.0	13.0	13.0
$50,000 to $99,999	3.9	2.7	2.5
$100,000 to $499,999	10.9	6.4	5.9
More than $500,000	3.6	5.3	4.5

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	20,168	29,160	31,248
Percent of total	63.0	69.2	74.1

Part owner (farms)	8,856	9,814	8,474
Percent of total	27.7	23.3	20.1

Tenant owner (farms)	2,974	3,176	2,464
Percent of total	9.3	7.5	5.8

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	28,263	37,524	39,035
Percent of total	88.3	89.0	92.5

Family-held corporations (farms)	722	892	608
Percent of total	2.3	2.1	1.4

Partnerships (farms)	2,754	3,310	2,166
Percent of total	8.6	7.9	5.1

Non-family corporations (farms)	128	136	97
Percent of total	0.4	0.3	0.2

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	131	288	280
Percent of total	0.4	0.7	0.7

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	55.3	55.3	57.2
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	45.2	36.8	48.8
Men (persons)	29,479	37,542	36,945
Women (persons)	2,519	4,608	5,241

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	42,000	41,700

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,131,419	1,682,006
+ Final animal output	2,440,325	2,764,584
+ Services and forestry	710,937	759,354
= Final agricultural sector output	4,282,681	5,205,944

- Intermediate consumption outlays	2,966,975	3,311,282
+ Net government transactions	529,174	470,964
= Gross value added	1,844,880	2,365,626

- Capital consumption	382,458	394,396

= Net value added	1,462,422	1,971,230

- Factor payments	533,846	537,043
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	181,816	185,744
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	126,172	109,800
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	225,858	241,499

= Net farm income	928,576	1,434,187

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	1,984,192	45.7	9.2
2. Cotton	453,980	10.5	7.4
3. Soybeans	345,665	8.0	1.6
4. Corn	338,273	7.8	1.0
5. Aquaculture	247,666	5.7	22.0

All commodities	4,341,956		1.5

More information on Mississippi'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	5	289.0
2. Poultry and products	5	253.5
3. Soybeans and products	13	242.3
4. Feed grains and products	17	130.5
5. Rice	4	88.4

Overall rank	24	1,133.6

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. Scott County	6.6	204.9
2. Smith County	5.0	154.3
3. Jones County	4.2	129.9
4. Simpson County	4.1	127.2
5. Neshoba County	4.0	125.5

State total		3,116.3

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