Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Tennessee

• 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	1,316,474	3,274,549	4,591,023
1990	1,348,082	3,529,103	4,877,185
2000	1,566,995	4,122,288	5,689,283
2007 (latest estimates)	1,647,052	4,509,667	6,156,719
More information on Tennessee 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	25,445	34,178	31,822
2006	25,422	34,649	32,172
Percent change	-0.1	1.4	1.1

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	32,420	44,698	41,956
2006	31,886	44,752	41,904
Percent change	-1.7	0.1	-0.1

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	19.3	15.3	16.5
1989	18.3	14.7	15.7
1999	15.5	12.7	13.5
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	18.1	14.9	15.8
More information on Tennessee 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	54.8	39.3	43.8
1990	43.3	28.9	32.9
2000	31.8	21.1	24.1

Percent completing high school only
1980	30.0	32.4	31.7
1990	32.4	29.1	30.0
2000	37.4	29.3	31.6

Percent completing some college
1980	7.9	13.5	11.9
1990	15.3	23.3	21.1
2000	19.8	26.7	24.8

Percent completing college
1980	7.5	14.7	12.6
1990	9.0	18.7	16.0
2000	11.0	22.9	19.6
More information on Tennessee 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	813,281	2,827,914	3,641,195
2006	824,615	2,900,286	3,724,901

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	6.4	4.7	5.1
2007	5.9	4.3	4.7
More information on Tennessee 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	1.4	1.0
2005-2006	2.2	3.0	2.8
2006-2007	0.5	1.7	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)	26.38	26.38	26.38
Total farmland (million acres)	11.17	11.99	11.68
Percent of total land area	42.3	45.4	44.3

Cropland (million acres)	7.09	7.45	6.99
Percent of total farmland	63.5	62.2	59.9
Percent in pasture	36.7	34.6	29.5
Percent irrigated	0.5	0.6	0.8

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	3.82	4.23	4.37

Woodland (million acres)	2.77	2.90	2.34
Percent of total farmland	24.8	24.2	20.0
Percent in pasture	37.9	36.0	36.4

Pastureland (million acres)	0.89	1.10	1.95
Percent of total farmland	8.0	9.2	16.7

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.42	0.53	0.40
Percent of total farmland	3.8	4.4	3.4

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.21	0.39	0.23
Percent of total farmland	1.9	3.3	2.0

Average farm size (acres)	149	131	133

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	61.1	65.2	66.3
100 to 499 acres	33.4	30.5	29.4
500 to 999 acres	3.6	2.8	2.8
1000 to 1,999 acres	1.4	1.1	1.0
2,000 or more acres	0.5	0.4	0.5

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	67.6	75.6	77.5
$10,000 to $49,999	24.0	18.0	15.6
$50,000 to $99,999	3.6	2.5	2.4
$100,000 to $499,999	4.6	3.5	3.5
More than $500,000	0.7	0.8	0.9

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	51,776	65,892	64,279
Percent of total	69.0	72.0	73.4

Part owner (farms)	18,280	20,706	19,844
Percent of total	24.4	22.6	22.7

Tenant owner (farms)	5,020	4,938	3,472
Percent of total	6.7	5.4	4.0

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	66,992	83,403	82,866
Percent of total	89.2	91.1	94.6

Family-held corporations (farms)	448	626	392
Percent of total	0.6	0.7	0.4

Partnerships (farms)	7,234	7,031	3,996
Percent of total	9.6	7.7	4.6

Non-family corporations (farms)	108	143	60
Percent of total	0.1	0.2	0.1

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	294	333	281
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.3

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	54.6	54.8	56.0
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	39.8	33.5	50.3
Men (persons)	68,920	82,987	78,182
Women (persons)	6,156	8,549	9,413

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	81,000	79,000

	Thousands $
Final crop output	1,392,559	1,114,330
+ Final animal output	1,238,705	1,270,707
+ Services and forestry	800,497	885,360
= Final agricultural sector output	3,431,761	3,270,397

- Intermediate consumption outlays	1,895,774	1,981,900
+ Net government transactions	162,844	129,630
= Gross value added	1,698,831	1,418,126

- Capital consumption	669,582	687,208

= Net value added	1,029,249	730,918

- Factor payments	384,260	355,677
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	191,172	164,869
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	-19,367	-36,121
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	212,455	226,929

= Net farm income	644,989	375,241

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. Cattle and calves	581,995	21.2	1.2
2. Broilers	453,951	16.6	2.1
3. Cotton	307,547	11.2	5.0
4. Greenhouse/nursery	272,800	10.0	1.6
5. Corn	215,746	7.9	0.6

All commodities	2,741,147		1.0

More information on Tennessee'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. Other	13	186.7
2. Cotton and linters	9	131.6
3. Wheat and products	25	86.2
4. Soybeans and products	18	74.5
5. Feed grains and products	21	70.5

Overall rank	28	770.2

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. Warren County	4.3	93.9
2. Bedford County	3.9	85.6
3. Robertson County	2.9	64.9
4. Gibson County	2.9	64.4
5. Obion County	2.9	62.9

State total		2,199.8

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