Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: South Dakota

• 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	449,676	241,092	690,768
1990	429,094	266,910	696,004
2000	442,349	312,495	754,844
2007 (latest estimates)	434,812	361,402	796,214
More information on South Dakota 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	30,053	35,734	32,575
2006	29,174	35,528	32,030
Percent change	-2.9	-0.6	-1.7

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	30,834	38,595	34,458
2006	28,520	37,895	32,912
Percent change	-8.1	-1.8	-4.7

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	20.3	10.8	16.9
1989	19.5	10.1	15.9
1999	16.5	8.5	13.2
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	16.2	10.3	13.6
More information on South Dakota 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	35.5	25.5	32.1
1990	26.2	17.7	22.9
2000	17.8	12.0	15.4

Percent completing high school only
1980	35.0	38.8	36.3
1990	33.8	33.6	33.7
2000	34.2	31.0	32.9

Percent completing some college
1980	16.6	19.8	17.7
1990	24.5	29.0	26.2
2000	28.6	32.4	30.2

Percent completing college
1980	13.0	15.9	14.0
1990	15.6	19.8	17.2
2000	19.4	24.5	21.5
More information on South Dakota 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	289,171	253,230	542,401
2006	295,479	260,442	555,921

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	3.3	2.8	3.1
2007	3.2	2.7	3.0
More information on South Dakota 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	0.4	1.3	0.8
2005-2006	1.4	2.3	1.8
2006-2007	0.3	3.0	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)	48.57	48.57	48.57
Total farmland (million acres)	44.83	44.14	43.79
Percent of total land area	92.3	90.9	90.2

Cropland (million acres)	19.58	19.71	20.32
Percent of total farmland	43.7	44.6	46.4
Percent in pasture	12.7	11.3	11.6
Percent irrigated	1.8	1.8	1.9

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	13.62	14.77	13.49

Woodland (million acres)	0.26	0.23	0.24
Percent of total farmland	0.6	0.5	0.5
Percent in pasture	65.0	65.8	70.2

Pastureland (million acres)	23.95	23.04	22.03
Percent of total farmland	53.4	52.2	50.3

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	1.04	1.16	1.21
Percent of total farmland	2.3	2.6	2.8

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	1.30	1.44	1.34
Percent of total farmland	2.9	3.3	3.1

Average farm size (acres)	1,316	1,330	1,380

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	17.4	20.1	21.3
100 to 499 acres	30.7	31.2	29.6
500 to 999 acres	20.3	17.8	16.9
1000 to 1,999 acres	16.4	15.4	15.0
2,000 or more acres	15.2	15.5	17.2

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	21.2	25.3	31.9
$10,000 to $49,999	33.0	29.0	23.2
$50,000 to $99,999	20.1	16.7	14.4
$100,000 to $499,999	23.6	25.9	26.6
More than $500,000	2.0	3.1	3.9

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	13,669	13,930	15,886
Percent of total	40.1	42.0	50.1

Part owner (farms)	15,332	14,588	12,781
Percent of total	45.0	44.0	40.3

Tenant owner (farms)	5,056	4,673	3,069
Percent of total	14.9	14.1	9.7

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	29,525	28,906	28,189
Percent of total	86.7	87.1	88.8

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,013	1,229	983
Percent of total	3.0	3.7	3.1

Partnerships (farms)	3,179	2,694	2,163
Percent of total	9.3	8.1	6.8

Non-family corporations (farms)	91	92	83
Percent of total	0.3	0.3	0.3

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	249	270	318
Percent of total	0.7	0.8	1.0

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	51.1	51.7	53.3
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	76.8	70.8	72.6
Men (persons)	32,623	31,539	29,552
Women (persons)	1,434	1,652	2,184

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	31,300	31,300

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,595,267	3,823,195
+ Final animal output	2,588,451	2,714,886
+ Services and forestry	718,890	674,047
= Final agricultural sector output	4,902,608	7,212,129

- Intermediate consumption outlays	3,093,236	3,620,316
+ Net government transactions	149,210	53,086
= Gross value added	1,958,582	3,644,899

- Capital consumption	531,306	545,054

= Net value added	1,427,276	3,099,845

- Factor payments	720,272	798,184
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	149,389	168,025
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	254,364	284,057
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	316,519	346,102

= Net farm income	707,004	2,301,661

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	1,805,331	31.5	3.6
2. Corn	1,101,346	19.2	3.2
3. Soybeans	925,646	16.1	4.4
4. Wheat	667,521	11.6	6.2
5. Hogs	358,587	6.3	2.4

All commodities	5,734,291		2.0

More information on South Dakota'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. Soybeans and products	8	569.7
2. Feed grains and products	8	468.2
3. Wheat and products	5	454.3
4. Live animals and meat	16	158.6
5. Feeds and fodders	13	62.6

Overall rank	17	1,850.1

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. Brown County	4.4	169.2
2. Spink County	3.5	134.2
3. Minnehaha County	3.1	119.9
4. Clark County	2.7	102.5
5. Marshall County	2.6	101.5

State total		3,834.6

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