Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Washington

• 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	574,279	3,558,074	4,132,353
1990	624,483	4,242,209	4,866,692
2000	740,956	5,153,165	5,894,121
2007 (latest estimates)	798,624	5,669,800	6,468,424
More information on Washington 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	26,899	38,429	36,994
2006	27,755	39,692	38,212
Percent change	3.2	3.3	3.3

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,655	50,309	48,471
2006	32,828	50,736	48,885
Percent change	0.5	0.8	0.8

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	12.6	9.4	9.8
1989	15.8	10.2	10.9
1999	15.1	10.0	10.6
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	15.2	10.9	11.4
More information on Washington 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	27.3	21.6	22.4
1990	21.6	15.4	16.2
2000	16.9	12.3	12.9

Percent completing high school only
1980	39.0	37.1	37.4
1990	32.0	27.3	27.9
2000	29.2	24.3	24.9

Percent completing some college
1980	19.0	21.7	21.3
1990	30.1	33.4	33.0
2000	34.2	34.5	34.4

Percent completing college
1980	14.7	19.6	19.0
1990	16.3	23.9	22.9
2000	19.7	28.9	27.7
More information on Washington 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	389,216	3,350,324	3,739,540
2006	399,869	3,468,944	3,868,813

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	6.0	4.8	4.9
2007	5.8	4.4	4.5
More information on Washington 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	2.9	2.8
2005-2006	1.2	2.7	2.6
2006-2007	1.5	2.7	2.6

* 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)	42.61	42.61	42.59
Total farmland (million acres)	15.73	15.78	15.32
Percent of total land area	36.9	37.0	36.0

Cropland (million acres)	8.00	8.29	8.04
Percent of total farmland	50.9	52.5	52.5
Percent in pasture	6.9	6.3	6.2
Percent irrigated	19.0	20.1	20.8

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	4.73	5.16	4.89

Woodland (million acres)	1.98	1.91	1.93
Percent of total farmland	12.6	12.1	12.6
Percent in pasture	81.4	79.8	78.3

Pastureland (million acres)	5.31	5.05	4.85
Percent of total farmland	33.8	32.0	31.6

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.44	0.53	0.50
Percent of total farmland	2.8	3.4	3.3

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.74	1.02	1.27
Percent of total farmland	4.7	6.5	8.3

Average farm size (acres)	520	393	426

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	63.6	70.9	69.2
100 to 499 acres	20.3	16.8	17.9
500 to 999 acres	5.6	4.4	4.5
1000 to 1,999 acres	4.8	3.7	3.8
2,000 or more acres	5.7	4.1	4.5

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	51.4	61.3	59.4
$10,000 to $49,999	19.0	15.0	16.2
$50,000 to $99,999	8.0	5.8	6.0
$100,000 to $499,999	17.3	12.8	12.9
More than $500,000	4.7	4.8	5.5

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	19,300	28,070	26,244
Percent of total	63.8	70.0	73.0

Part owner (farms)	7,778	8,424	7,199
Percent of total	25.7	21.0	20.0

Tenant owner (farms)	3,186	3,619	2,496
Percent of total	10.5	9.0	6.9

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	25,126	33,711	30,525
Percent of total	83.0	84.0	84.9

Family-held corporations (farms)	2,051	2,805	2,560
Percent of total	6.8	7.0	7.1

Partnerships (farms)	2,675	2,998	2,280
Percent of total	8.8	7.5	6.3

Non-family corporations (farms)	220	307	188
Percent of total	0.7	0.8	0.5

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	192	292	386
Percent of total	0.6	0.7	1.1

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.1	53.2	55.4
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	54.5	46.5	58.5
Men (persons)	27,097	34,734	30,307
Women (persons)	3,167	5,379	5,632

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	34,000	33,000

	Thousands $
Final crop output	4,426,956	5,354,169
+ Final animal output	1,675,503	2,070,895
+ Services and forestry	732,197	785,004
= Final agricultural sector output	6,834,656	8,210,068

- Intermediate consumption outlays	3,552,409	3,619,348
+ Net government transactions	-45,740	-55,041
= Gross value added	3,236,506	4,535,679

- Capital consumption	487,140	496,131

= Net value added	2,749,366	4,039,548

- Factor payments	1,699,860	1,590,366
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	1,234,424	1,117,027
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	198,139	187,062
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	267,297	286,277

= Net farm income	1,049,506	2,449,182

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. Apples	1,372,267	18.4	63.1
2. Dairy products	1,059,264	14.2	3.0
3. Wheat	821,036	11.0	7.7
4. Cattle and calves	724,533	9.7	1.5
5. Potatoes	566,950	7.6	19.2

All commodities	7,449,691		2.6

More information on Washington'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. Fruits and preparations	2	946.2
2. Vegetables and preparations	2	503.9
3. Other	5	469.1
4. Wheat and products	6	428.5
5. Live animals and meat	17	95.6

Overall rank	8	2,649.4

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. Grant County	16.5	881.8
2. Yakima County	15.8	843.9
3. Benton County	7.5	400.6
4. Franklin County	6.6	350.5
5. Walla Walla County	6.4	339.1

State total		5,330.7

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