Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Montana

• 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	513,844	272,846	786,690
1990	521,188	277,877	799,065
2000	587,132	315,063	902,195
2007 (latest estimates)	620,779	337,082	957,861
More information on Montana 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	28,911	32,346	30,124
2006	29,540	33,086	30,790
Percent change	2.2	2.3	2.2

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	31,133	36,485	33,129
2006	30,655	36,354	32,764
Percent change	-1.6	-0.4	-1.1

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	13.3	10.3	12.3
1989	17.2	14.0	16.1
1999	15.5	12.8	14.6
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	15.1	13.7	14.6
More information on Montana 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	27.1	22.8	25.6
1990	20.5	16.2	19.0
2000	13.7	11.2	12.8

Percent completing high school only
1980	38.0	37.6	38.0
1990	34.1	32.3	33.5
2000	31.7	30.5	31.3

Percent completing some college
1980	18.7	19.6	19.0
1990	27.0	29.1	27.7
2000	31.5	31.5	31.5

Percent completing college
1980	16.1	20.0	17.5
1990	18.5	22.3	19.8
2000	23.0	26.9	24.4
More information on Montana 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	386,204	229,660	615,864
2006	401,467	235,934	637,401

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	3.5	2.9	3.3
2007	3.4	2.7	3.1
More information on Montana 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	1.6	2.2	1.8
2005-2006	2.9	2.2	2.6
2006-2007	1.5	1.3	1.4

* 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)	93.00	93.00	93.15
Total farmland (million acres)	59.64	58.45	59.61
Percent of total land area	64.1	62.8	64.0

Cropland (million acres)	17.49	18.24	18.32
Percent of total farmland	29.3	31.2	30.7
Percent in pasture	8.9	9.0	9.4
Percent irrigated	8.6	8.9	8.5

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	8.20	9.79	8.74

Woodland (million acres)	1.97	2.05	2.20
Percent of total farmland	3.3	3.5	3.7
Percent in pasture	85.3	83.9	77.2

Pastureland (million acres)	39.29	37.19	38.24
Percent of total farmland	65.9	63.6	64.2

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.89	0.97	0.85
Percent of total farmland	1.5	1.7	1.4

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	2.16	2.77	3.53
Percent of total farmland	3.6	4.7	5.9

Average farm size (acres)	2,613	2,115	2,139

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	23.9	29.1	30.8
100 to 499 acres	20.1	22.7	22.8
500 to 999 acres	11.1	11.1	9.9
1000 to 1,999 acres	13.3	12.2	10.9
2,000 or more acres	31.7	24.9	25.5

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	34.9	43.4	50.4
$10,000 to $49,999	28.0	24.0	20.7
$50,000 to $99,999	15.5	12.4	10.9
$100,000 to $499,999	19.7	18.1	16.2
More than $500,000	1.6	1.8	1.9

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	10,763	15,101	17,013
Percent of total	47.2	54.7	61.0

Part owner (farms)	9,039	9,268	8,674
Percent of total	39.6	33.5	31.1

Tenant owner (farms)	3,019	3,263	2,183
Percent of total	13.2	11.8	7.8

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	17,723	21,674	22,448
Percent of total	77.7	78.4	80.5

Family-held corporations (farms)	2,669	3,185	2,607
Percent of total	11.7	11.5	9.4

Partnerships (farms)	2,046	2,250	2,192
Percent of total	9.0	8.1	7.9

Non-family corporations (farms)	129	132	123
Percent of total	0.6	0.5	0.4

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	254	391	500
Percent of total	1.1	1.4	1.8

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	52.9	53.7	55.4
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	70.1	61.0	63.5
Men (persons)	20,995	24,755	24,203
Women (persons)	1,826	2,877	3,667

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	28,100	28,300

	Thousands $
Final crop output	902,881	1,281,316
+ Final animal output	1,285,082	1,376,694
+ Services and forestry	644,039	713,869
= Final agricultural sector output	2,832,002	3,371,879

- Intermediate consumption outlays	1,633,828	1,690,814
+ Net government transactions	84,752	38,449
= Gross value added	1,282,926	1,719,514

- Capital consumption	439,973	455,776

= Net value added	842,953	1,263,738

- Factor payments	519,185	503,149
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	182,850	185,211
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	126,932	97,476
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	209,403	220,462

= Net farm income	323,768	760,589

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	981,051	41.0	2.0
2. Wheat	819,477	34.2	7.7
3. Barley	104,454	4.4	16.0
4. Hay	94,773	4.0	1.5
5. Dairy products	61,149	2.6	0.2

All commodities	2,394,306		0.8

More information on Montana'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	4	525.5
2. Feeds and fodders	14	60.1
3. Vegetables and preparations	14	54.3
4. Feed grains and products	27	38.3
5. Seeds	13	16.8

Overall rank	29	723.0

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. Yellowstone County	6.3	117.8
2. Gallatin County	4.0	76.1
3. Teton County	3.9	72.5
4. Richland County	3.6	67.9
5. Valley County	3.6	67.4

State total		1,882.1

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