Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: North Carolina

• 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	2,083,621	3,796,474	5,880,095
1990	2,217,336	4,411,301	6,628,637
2000	2,563,889	5,485,424	8,049,313
2007 (latest estimates)	2,712,416	6,348,616	9,061,032
More information on North 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	26,978	33,790	31,704
2006	27,380	34,360	32,247
Percent change	1.5	1.7	1.7

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,900	44,153	41,240
2006	32,366	44,218	41,179
Percent change	-1.6	0.1	-0.1

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	17.7	13.2	14.8
1989	16.0	11.4	13.0
1999	14.9	11.1	12.3
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	16.9	13.2	14.3
More information on North 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	52.4	41.1	45.2
1990	37.1	26.4	30.0
2000	27.3	19.2	21.9

Percent completing high school only
1980	27.0	28.4	27.8
1990	30.7	28.1	29.0
2000	32.2	26.7	28.4

Percent completing some college
1980	11.5	15.0	13.8
1990	20.8	25.0	23.6
2000	26.0	27.8	27.2

Percent completing college
1980	9.2	15.5	13.2
1990	11.4	20.4	17.4
2000	14.5	26.3	22.5
More information on North 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	1,333,383	3,816,954	5,150,337
2006	1,363,413	3,953,740	5,317,153

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	5.4	4.5	4.7
2007	5.2	4.4	4.7
More information on North 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	1.1	2.3	2.0
2005-2006	1.8	3.8	3.2
2006-2007	4.3	0.3	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)	31.18	31.18	31.17
Total farmland (million acres)	8.94	9.44	9.08
Percent of total land area	28.7	30.3	29.1

Cropland (million acres)	5.58	5.70	5.47
Percent of total farmland	62.4	60.4	60.3
Percent in pasture	15.0	16.2	12.2
Percent irrigated	1.9	2.6	4.4

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	4.00	4.27	4.31

Woodland (million acres)	2.61	2.79	2.52
Percent of total farmland	29.3	29.5	27.8
Percent in pasture	19.4	18.3	18.8

Pastureland (million acres)	0.38	0.42	0.61
Percent of total farmland	4.2	4.5	6.7

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.37	0.53	0.48
Percent of total farmland	4.1	5.7	5.3

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.09	0.15	0.18
Percent of total farmland	1.0	1.6	2.0

Average farm size (acres)	172	160	168

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	61.2	66.3	67.1
100 to 499 acres	31.2	26.9	25.6
500 to 999 acres	4.9	4.1	4.0
1000 to 1,999 acres	2.0	1.9	2.2
2,000 or more acres	0.7	0.8	1.0

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	51.7	59.7	63.7
$10,000 to $49,999	23.0	18.0	15.9
$50,000 to $99,999	7.0	4.9	4.1
$100,000 to $499,999	14.0	10.9	9.7
More than $500,000	4.0	6.5	6.6

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	29,242	35,904	34,489
Percent of total	56.4	60.7	64.0

Part owner (farms)	17,572	18,231	16,030
Percent of total	33.9	30.8	29.7

Tenant owner (farms)	5,040	4,985	3,411
Percent of total	9.7	8.4	6.3

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	45,273	51,913	48,672
Percent of total	87.3	87.8	90.3

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,415	2,084	1,652
Percent of total	2.7	3.5	3.1

Partnerships (farms)	4,750	4,663	3,209
Percent of total	9.2	7.9	6.0

Non-family corporations (farms)	174	196	171
Percent of total	0.3	0.3	0.3

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	242	264	226
Percent of total	0.5	0.4	0.4

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	54.7	54.8	56.1
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	52.8	45.6	58.7
Men (persons)	47,914	53,874	48,574
Women (persons)	3,940	5,246	5,356

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	48,000	48,000

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,908,792	2,831,920
+ Final animal output	5,108,050	5,796,187
+ Services and forestry	2,001,497	1,940,846
= Final agricultural sector output	10,018,339	10,568,954

- Intermediate consumption outlays	5,063,484	5,675,216
+ Net government transactions	541,230	315,855
= Gross value added	5,496,084	5,209,593

- Capital consumption	573,465	594,960

= Net value added	4,922,619	4,614,633

- Factor payments	1,666,878	1,807,706
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	589,075	721,115
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	783,180	766,788
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	294,623	319,803

= Net farm income	3,255,741	2,806,927

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	2,479,538	28.5	11.6
2. Hogs	1,918,832	22.1	13.0
3. Greenhouse/nursery	889,693	10.2	5.2
4. Tobacco	586,451	6.7	45.9
5. Turkeys	513,162	5.9	13.8

All commodities	8,691,100		3.1

More information on North 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. Tobacco unmfd.	1	409.6
2. Live animals and meat	6	371.5
3. Poultry and products	3	364.8
4. Other	10	265.6
5. Cotton and linters	6	171.7

Overall rank	14	2,101.0

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. Duplin County	10.3	715.3
2. Sampson County	9.7	675.7
3. Wayne County	4.6	317.7
4. Union County	3.8	261.3
5. Bladen County	3.7	254.6

State total		6,961.7

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