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Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Pennsylvania

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

Data Download
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Questions & Answers
Excel file PA-fact-sheet.xls

Population, Income, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 1,863,337 10,001,383 11,864,720
    1990 1,866,587 10,015,056 11,881,643
    2000 1,961,307 10,319,747 12,281,054
    2007 (latest estimates) 1,981,074 10,451,718 12,432,792

More information on Pennsylvania population
County-level Population Data
Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room
• Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2006 dollars)
    2005 27,276 37,720 36,054
    2006 27,709 38,556 36,825
    Percent change 1.6 2.2 2.1
 
Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
    2005 34,242 48,657 46,677
    2006 33,929 48,559 46,540
    Percent change -0.9 -0.2 -0.3
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 11.0 10.4 10.5
    1989 12.5 10.9 11.1
    1999 11.3 10.9 11.0
    2007 (latest model-based estimates) 12.4 11.5 11.6

More information on Pennsylvania 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

Education (Persons 25 and older)
  Rural * Urban * Total
Percent not completing high school
    1980 38.6 34.7 35.3
    1990 28.2 24.8 25.3
    2000 20.3 17.7 18.1
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 44.0 39.8 40.4
    1990 45.9 37.2 38.6
    2000 47.0 36.4 38.1
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 8.6 11.1 10.7
    1990 14.6 18.8 18.2
    2000 18.8 22.0 21.4
 
Percent completing college
    1980 9.1 14.4 13.6
    1990 11.2 19.2 17.9
    2000 13.9 24.0 22.4

More information on Pennsylvania education
County-level Education Data
Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Robert Gibbs, 202-694-5423

Employment
  Rural * Urban * Total
Total number of jobs
    2005 984,388 6,183,158 7,167,546
    2006 1,007,127 6,288,860 7,295,987
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2006 4.9 4.5 4.6
    2007 4.7 4.3 4.4

More information on Pennsylvania 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 2.1 1.2 1.3
    2005-2006 0.5 1.1 1.0
    2006-2007 0.4 0.1 0.2
 

* 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 and 2002 Census of Agriculture
 
  1992 1997 2002
Total land area (million acres) 28.68 28.68 28.68
    Total farmland (million acres) 7.19 7.82 7.75
        Percent of total land area 25.1 27.3 27.0
 
        Cropland (million acres) 5.02 5.39 5.12
            Percent of total farmland 69.9 68.9 66.1
            Percent in pasture 14.7 14.1 11.5
            Percent irrigated 0.4 0.7 0.8
 
            Harvested Cropland
            (million acres)
3.86 4.22 4.08
 
        Woodland (million acres) 1.42 1.56 1.58
            Percent of total farmland 19.8 20.0 20.4
            Percent in pasture 18.0 14.7 14.0
 
        Pastureland (million acres) 0.41 0.42 0.53
            Percent of total farmland 5.7 5.4 6.8
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc.
        (million acres)
0.34 0.45 0.52
            Percent of total farmland 4.7 5.7 6.7
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (million acres)
0.06 0.12 0.19
            Percent of total farmland 0.8 1.5 2.5
 
Average farm size (acres) 160 130 133
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 49.2 59.7 60.2
            100 to 499 acres 45.6 36.4 35.6
            500 to 999 acres 4.2 3.1 3.1
            1000 to 1,999 acres 0.9 0.7 0.9
            2,000 or more acres 0.2 0.2 0.2
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 45.7 54.7 60.9
            $10,000 to $49,999 23.0 20.0 16.0
            $50,000 to $99,999 11.7 8.1 6.6
            $100,000 to $499,999 17.8 14.7 14.1
            More than $500,000 2.3 2.3 2.5
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 25,983 38,098 39,742
            Percent of total 57.9 63.3 68.4
 
        Part owner (farms) 14,161 16,175 13,976
            Percent of total 31.6 26.9 24.1
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 4,726 5,949 4,387
            Percent of total 10.5 9.9 7.6
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)
39,646 54,039 53,201
            Percent of total 88.4 89.7 91.6
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)
887 1,277 1,077
            Percent of total 2.0 2.1 1.9
 
        Partnerships (farms) 4,063 4,509 3,428
            Percent of total 9.1 7.5 5.9
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 129 158 172
            Percent of total 0.3 0.3 0.3
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)
145 239 227
            Percent of total 0.3 0.4 0.4
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 52.2 52.4 53.1
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation
60.1 50.3 56.7
        Men (persons) 42,063 55,213 52,026
        Women (persons) 2,807 5,009 6,079
 

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

Farm income and value added data
  2006 2007
 
Number of farms 58,200 58,000
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 1,859,293 1,897,478
+     Final animal output 2,981,356 3,849,577
+     Services and forestry 848,657 978,501
=   Final agricultural sector output 5,689,306 6,725,556
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 2,758,780 3,071,842
+     Net government transactions -149,737 -226,777
=   Gross value added 2,780,790 3,426,937
 
-      Capital consumption 762,506 787,748
 
=   Net value added 2,018,284 2,639,189
 
-    Factor payments 529,512 484,672
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 488,868 421,605
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords -185,915 -180,182
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 226,559 243,249
 
=   Net farm income 1,488,772 2,154,517
 

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

Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2007
  Value of receipts
thousand $
Percent of state total
farm receipts
Percent of US value
1. Dairy products 2,219,162 38.5 6.3
2. Cattle and calves 471,595 8.2 0.9
3. Mushrooms, agaricus 406,828 7.1 61.4
4. Corn 402,520 7.0 1.2
5. Greenhouse/nursery 402,111 7.0 2.3
 
All commodities 5,760,416   2.0
 

More information on Pennsylvania's top agriculture commodities
Leading commodities for cash receipts in Excel
• Contact Roger Strickland, 202-694-5592.

Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2007
  Rank among states Value
million $
1. Other 3 529.1
2. Wheat and products 16 187.9
3. Live animals and meat 14 179.8
4. Feed grains and products 19 108.3
5. Poultry and products 15 87.8
 
Overall rank 18 1,473.6
 

More information on agricultural exports
State Export Data
Agricultural Trade Briefing Room
• Contact Nora Brooks, 202-694-5211.

Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2002
  Percent of state total receipts Million $
1. Lancaster County 18.8 798.3
2. Chester County 8.9 376.8
3. Berks County 6.7 287.0
4. Franklin County 5.1 218.4
5. Lebanon County 4.5 191.1
 
State total   4,257.0
 

More information on agricultural sales
Census of Agriculture
• Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540.


Data Sources

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