Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: South Carolina

• 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	844,294	2,276,435	3,120,729
1990	893,647	2,593,056	3,486,703
2000	1,010,159	3,001,853	4,012,012
2007 (latest estimates)	1,053,080	3,354,629	4,407,709
More information on South Carolina 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	26,519	30,300	29,378
2006	27,004	30,647	29,767
Percent change	1.8	1.1	1.3

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	34,756	39,479	38,509
2006	34,460	39,424	38,413
Percent change	-0.9	-0.1	-0.2

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	20.7	15.1	16.6
1989	20.3	13.7	15.4
1999	17.6	12.9	14.1
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	19.1	14.5	15.6
More information on South Carolina 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	53.5	43.7	46.3
1990	38.9	29.3	31.7
2000	29.1	21.8	23.7

Percent completing high school only
1980	26.0	27.6	27.1
1990	31.0	29.0	29.5
2000	32.8	29.0	30.0

Percent completing some college
1980	10.4	14.3	13.2
1990	17.8	23.6	22.2
2000	22.5	27.1	25.9

Percent completing college
1980	10.5	14.5	13.4
1990	12.4	18.1	16.6
2000	15.6	22.0	20.4
More information on South Carolina 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	488,090	1,888,543	2,376,633
2006	496,935	1,944,587	2,441,522

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	8.1	5.9	6.4
2007	7.7	5.3	5.9
More information on South Carolina 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	1.7	2.1	2.0
2005-2006	1.2	2.8	2.4
2006-2007	-0.5	2.0	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)	19.27	19.27	19.27
Total farmland (million acres)	4.47	4.97	4.85
Percent of total land area	23.2	25.8	25.1

Cropland (million acres)	2.59	2.60	2.27
Percent of total farmland	57.9	52.3	46.8
Percent in pasture	19.8	21.2	17.4
Percent irrigated	2.8	3.4	4.0

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	1.59	1.73	1.37

Woodland (million acres)	1.43	1.79	1.85
Percent of total farmland	32.0	36.0	38.2
Percent in pasture	24.5	18.7	20.4

Pastureland (million acres)	0.28	0.28	0.45
Percent of total farmland	6.3	5.7	9.2

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.17	0.30	0.28
Percent of total farmland	3.9	6.0	5.7

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.13	0.24	0.23
Percent of total farmland	2.8	4.9	4.7

Average farm size (acres)	221	193	197

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	54.4	59.5	61.6
100 to 499 acres	35.0	32.1	30.1
500 to 999 acres	6.2	4.9	4.5
1000 to 1,999 acres	3.2	2.4	2.6
2,000 or more acres	1.2	1.1	1.3

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	67.0	73.1	78.4
$10,000 to $49,999	18.0	14.0	12.4
$50,000 to $99,999	4.6	3.0	2.4
$100,000 to $499,999	7.7	5.9	4.0
More than $500,000	2.3	3.5	2.8

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	12,340	17,287	18,476
Percent of total	61.0	67.0	75.3

Part owner (farms)	6,407	6,931	5,059
Percent of total	31.7	26.9	20.6

Tenant owner (farms)	1,495	1,589	1,006
Percent of total	7.4	6.2	4.1

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	17,933	23,328	22,755
Percent of total	88.6	90.4	92.7

Family-held corporations (farms)	472	647	477
Percent of total	2.3	2.5	1.9

Partnerships (farms)	1,621	1,576	1,050
Percent of total	8.0	6.1	4.3

Non-family corporations (farms)	75	99	79
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.3

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	141	157	180
Percent of total	0.7	0.6	0.7

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	55.5	55.9	56.9
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	43.8	36.7	46.4
Men (persons)	18,617	22,894	21,030
Women (persons)	1,625	2,913	3,511

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	24,600	24,700

	Thousands $
Final crop output	798,001	719,262
+ Final animal output	1,055,068	1,242,143
+ Services and forestry	416,849	415,535
= Final agricultural sector output	2,269,918	2,376,940

- Intermediate consumption outlays	1,307,033	1,448,367
+ Net government transactions	132,116	103,738
= Gross value added	1,095,001	1,032,311

- Capital consumption	224,693	232,962

= Net value added	870,308	799,349

- Factor payments	259,853	264,447
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	157,011	165,321
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	10,566	-1,579
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	92,276	100,705

= Net farm income	610,455	534,902

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	666,225	32.9	3.1
2. Greenhouse/nursery	270,522	13.3	1.6
3. Turkeys	184,338	9.1	5.0
4. Cattle and calves	126,876	6.3	0.3
5. Corn	104,286	5.1	0.3

All commodities	2,027,527		0.7

More information on South Carolina'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. Poultry and products	9	106.7
2. Other	23	76.0
3. Tobacco unmfd.	7	48.2
4. Wheat and products	34	44.9
5. Cotton and linters	13	35.1

Overall rank	34	436.1

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. Lexington County	6.4	95.7
2. Kershaw County	5.7	84.5
3. York County	5.6	82.9
4. Dillon County	4.6	69.2
5. Orangeburg County	4.6	69.1

State total		1,489.8

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