Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Minnesota

• Population, Income, Education, and Employment
• Farm Characteristics
• Farm Financial Indicators
• Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
• About the State Fact Sheets

Data updated December 15, 2008

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Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,338,011	2,737,959	4,075,970
1990	1,299,471	3,075,628	4,375,099
2000	1,385,107	3,534,372	4,919,479
2007 (latest estimates)	1,407,835	3,789,786	5,197,621
More information on Minnesota 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	29,058	41,999	38,458
2006	29,306	42,436	38,859
Percent change	0.9	1.0	1.0

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	30,811	49,610	44,887
2006	30,244	49,031	44,326
Percent change	-1.9	-1.2	-1.3

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	13.5	7.5	9.5
1989	13.5	8.9	10.2
1999	9.7	7.2	7.9
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	10.6	9.1	9.5
More information on Minnesota 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	36.6	22.1	26.9
1990	25.8	14.2	17.6
2000	17.0	10.1	12.1

Percent completing high school only
1980	38.0	38.8	38.6
1990	37.1	31.2	33.0
2000	35.3	26.3	28.8

Percent completing some college
1980	14.3	18.6	17.1
1990	23.9	29.1	27.6
2000	30.8	32.0	31.7

Percent completing college
1980	11.1	20.5	17.4
1990	13.2	25.5	21.8
2000	16.9	31.6	27.4
More information on Minnesota 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	881,038	2,626,060	3,507,098
2006	894,229	2,676,782	3,571,011

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	4.6	3.8	4.0
2007	5.3	4.3	4.6
More information on Minnesota 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	-0.5	0.7	0.4
2005-2006	0.4	0.8	0.7
2006-2007	-1.0	0.6	0.1

* 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)	50.95	50.95	50.95
Total farmland (million acres)	25.67	27.56	27.51
Percent of total land area	50.4	54.1	54.0

Cropland (million acres)	21.39	22.58	22.73
Percent of total farmland	83.3	81.9	82.6
Percent in pasture	4.9	4.6	3.2
Percent irrigated	1.7	1.8	2.0

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	18.20	19.79	19.40

Woodland (million acres)	1.95	2.22	1.98
Percent of total farmland	7.6	8.0	7.2
Percent in pasture	41.8	36.0	32.5

Pastureland (million acres)	0.97	1.04	1.19
Percent of total farmland	3.8	3.8	4.3

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	1.36	1.72	1.62
Percent of total farmland	5.3	6.3	5.9

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.91	1.47	1.63
Percent of total farmland	3.5	5.3	5.9

Average farm size (acres)	342	350	340

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	27.4	32.8	38.6
100 to 499 acres	52.3	47.0	42.4
500 to 999 acres	14.0	12.5	11.1
1000 to 1,999 acres	5.2	5.8	5.6
2,000 or more acres	1.2	1.9	2.3

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	29.5	39.8	48.2
$10,000 to $49,999	28.0	22.0	19.0
$50,000 to $99,999	16.6	12.2	9.9
$100,000 to $499,999	23.7	22.4	18.5
More than $500,000	1.8	3.6	4.5

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	38,301	44,869	51,312
Percent of total	51.0	57.0	63.5

Part owner (farms)	28,364	26,384	24,073
Percent of total	37.8	33.5	29.8

Tenant owner (farms)	8,414	7,502	5,454
Percent of total	11.2	9.5	6.7

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	66,068	69,320	73,018
Percent of total	88.0	88.0	90.3

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,820	2,331	2,163
Percent of total	2.4	3.0	2.7

Partnerships (farms)	6,800	6,486	5,056
Percent of total	9.1	8.2	6.3

Non-family corporations (farms)	162	252	179
Percent of total	0.2	0.3	0.2

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	229	366	423
Percent of total	0.3	0.5	0.5

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	49.6	51.0	52.9
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	68.0	57.3	62.9
Men (persons)	72,148	74,550	74,469
Women (persons)	2,931	4,205	6,370

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	79,300	79,000

	Thousands $
Final crop output	5,122,515	6,723,337
+ Final animal output	4,750,348	5,649,201
+ Services and forestry	1,350,632	1,521,126
= Final agricultural sector output	11,223,495	13,893,664

- Intermediate consumption outlays	5,962,898	7,288,925
+ Net government transactions	372,573	25,912
= Gross value added	5,633,171	6,630,651

- Capital consumption	1,260,942	1,298,838

= Net value added	4,372,229	5,331,813

- Factor payments	1,789,485	1,892,378
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	446,435	534,264
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	634,644	588,334
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	708,406	769,780

= Net farm income	2,582,744	3,439,435

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. Corn	3,055,166	24.4	9.0
2. Soybeans	2,039,096	16.3	9.7
3. Hogs	1,878,280	15.0	12.7
4. Dairy products	1,692,108	13.5	4.8
5. Cattle and calves	1,067,196	8.5	2.1

All commodities	12,538,430		4.4

More information on Minnesota'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	3	1,075.6
2. Feed grains and products	4	947.7
3. Live animals and meat	7	368.1
4. Wheat and products	7	354.5
5. Other	9	276.4

Overall rank	7	3,581.8

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. Stearns County	4.0	343.7
2. Renville County	3.7	317.0
3. Martin County	2.9	248.8
4. Kandiyohi County	2.7	230.9
5. Redwood County	2.6	220.5

State total		8,575.6

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: December 15, 2008