Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: North Dakota

• 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	418,382	234,335	652,717
1990	381,412	257,388	638,800
2000	358,234	283,966	642,200
2007 (latest estimates)	331,908	307,807	639,715
More information on North 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	31,421	34,568	32,899
2006	30,865	34,852	32,763
Percent change	-1.8	0.8	-0.4

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,724	37,543	35,159
2006	30,514	37,216	33,921
Percent change	-7.2	-0.9	-3.6

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	14.4	9.5	12.6
1989	16.3	11.5	14.4
1999	13.3	10.0	11.9
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	12.4	11.2	11.8
More information on North 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	38.2	24.6	33.6
1990	28.0	15.9	23.3
2000	19.7	11.3	16.1

Percent completing high school only
1980	31.0	31.6	31.3
1990	29.6	25.6	28.0
2000	30.5	24.3	27.9

Percent completing some college
1980	19.1	22.6	20.3
1990	28.6	33.8	30.6
2000	32.5	35.9	34.0

Percent completing college
1980	11.5	21.2	14.8
1990	13.9	24.8	18.1
2000	17.2	28.5	22.0
More information on North 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	234,322	239,349	473,671
2006	238,528	246,644	485,172

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	3.7	2.7	3.2
2007	3.6	2.7	3.2
More information on North 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	0.3	2.2	1.2
2005-2006	1.0	2.3	1.7
2006-2007	-0.2	2.6	1.2

* 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	2002
1992, 1997 and 2002 Census of Agriculture

Total land area (million acres)	44.16	44.16	44.14
Total farmland (million acres)	39.44	39.68	39.29
Percent of total land area	89.3	89.9	89.0

Cropland (million acres)	27.47	27.38	26.51
Percent of total farmland	69.7	69.0	67.5
Percent in pasture	6.2	5.3	4.9
Percent irrigated	0.7	0.7	0.8

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	19.22	20.67	19.91

Woodland (million acres)	0.34	0.28	0.24
Percent of total farmland	0.9	0.7	0.6
Percent in pasture	60.4	49.4	53.2

Pastureland (million acres)	10.28	10.29	10.98
Percent of total farmland	26.1	25.9	28.0

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	1.34	1.72	1.57
Percent of total farmland	3.4	4.3	4.0

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	2.12	2.70	3.04
Percent of total farmland	5.4	6.8	7.7

Average farm size (acres)	1,267	1,227	1,283

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	9.6	11.5	12.6
100 to 499 acres	22.5	27.3	30.5
500 to 999 acres	21.6	19.1	16.1
1000 to 1,999 acres	28.1	23.3	19.6
2,000 or more acres	18.3	18.7	21.2

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	18.3	27.8	38.5
$10,000 to $49,999	33.0	28.0	20.1
$50,000 to $99,999	20.9	16.8	12.6
$100,000 to $499,999	26.2	24.9	24.8
More than $500,000	1.7	2.2	4.0

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	9,898	12,002	14,499
Percent of total	31.8	37.1	47.4

Part owner (farms)	16,058	15,373	13,070
Percent of total	51.6	47.5	42.7

Tenant owner (farms)	5,167	4,973	3,050
Percent of total	16.6	15.4	10.0

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	27,093	28,323	27,578
Percent of total	87.1	87.6	90.1

Family-held corporations (farms)	325	530	418
Percent of total	1.0	1.6	1.4

Partnerships (farms)	3,504	3,218	2,289
Percent of total	11.3	9.9	7.5

Non-family corporations (farms)	24	30	28
Percent of total	0.1	0.1	0.1

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	177	247	306
Percent of total	0.6	0.8	1.0

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	50.0	51.4	54.4
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	80.9	72.3	70.7
Men (persons)	30,184	30,863	28,125
Women (persons)	939	1,485	2,494

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	30,300	30,100

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,950,207	5,001,739
+ Final animal output	1,053,310	918,309
+ Services and forestry	471,669	421,807
= Final agricultural sector output	4,475,186	6,341,855

- Intermediate consumption outlays	2,625,197	3,061,014
+ Net government transactions	223,257	161,120
= Gross value added	2,073,246	3,441,960

- Capital consumption	561,090	569,740

= Net value added	1,512,156	2,872,220

- Factor payments	832,367	880,315
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	156,392	175,339
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	368,695	368,880
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	307,280	336,096

= Net farm income	679,789	1,991,905

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. Wheat	1,582,288	28.8	14.8
2. Soybeans	790,095	14.4	3.7
3. Cattle and calves	741,066	13.5	1.5
4. Corn	537,828	9.8	1.6
5. Sugar beets	279,023	5.1	19.5

All commodities	5,490,337		1.9

More information on North 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. Wheat and products	1	1,030.8
2. Soybeans and products	9	446.4
3. Feed grains and products	12	311.3
4. Vegetables and preparations	4	240.3
5. Other	12	217.3

Overall rank	9	2,564.6

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. Cass County	6.5	209.0
2. Richland County	6.2	201.4
3. Walsh County	4.6	149.9
4. Grand Forks County	4.5	144.8
5. Pembina County	4.4	142.1

State total		3,233.4

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