Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Arkansas

• Population, Income, Education, and Employment
• Farm Characteristics
• Farm Financial Indicators
• Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
• About the State Fact Sheets

Data updated October 21, 2009

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Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,094,847	1,191,510	2,286,357
1990	1,073,804	1,276,921	2,350,725
2000	1,156,949	1,516,451	2,673,400
2008 (latest estimates)	1,147,682	1,707,708	2,855,390
More information on Arkansas population • County-level Population Data • Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room • Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Income
Per-capita income (2007 dollars)
2006	24,950	32,276	29,284
2007	25,650	33,258	30,177
Percent change	5.6	6.1	6.1

Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
2006	30,893	40,282	36,893
2007	31,376	40,899	37,501
Percent change	3.1	3.1	3.3

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	22.5	15.6	19.0
1989	22.8	15.9	19.1
1999	18.2	14.1	15.8
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	20.0	15.9	17.6
More information on Arkansas 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 Tracey Farrigan, 202-694-5489

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Education (Persons 25 and older)
Percent not completing high school
1980	50.9	38.6	44.5
1990	39.5	28.7	33.7
2000	29.3	21.1	24.7

Percent completing high school only
1980	32.0	34.6	33.2
1990	33.7	31.9	32.7
2000	36.6	32.2	34.1

Percent completing some college
1980	9.2	13.6	11.5
1990	17.0	23.1	20.3
2000	22.0	26.6	24.5

Percent completing college
1980	8.3	13.2	10.8
1990	9.8	16.3	13.3
2000	12.2	20.2	16.7
More information on Arkansas 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
2006	573,834	1,016,286	1,590,120
2007	573,201	1,032,886	1,606,087

Unemployment rate (percent)
2007	6.0	4.5	5.1
2008	6.0	4.5	5.1
More information on Arkansas 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
2005-2006	1.7	1.1	1.3
2006-2007	-0.4	1.2	0.6
2007-2008	0.5	0.8	0.7

* Urban and rural (metro and nonmetro) definitions 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

	1997	2002	2007
1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture

Approximate total land area (acres)	33,328,208	33,323,626	33,287,812
Total farmland (acres)	14,823,865	14,502,793	13,872,862
Percent of total land area	44.5	43.5	41.7

Cropland (acres)	10,271,653	9,576,047	8,432,221
Percent of total farmland	69.3	66.0	60.8
Percent in pasture	19.9	17.8	8.6
Percent irrigated	36.7	43.3	52.8

Harvested Cropland (acres)	7,814,711	7,457,599	7,367,068

Woodland (acres)	2,467,239	2,369,950	2,239,119
Percent of total farmland	16.6	16.3	16.1
Percent in pasture	41.6	38.4	33.2

Pastureland (acres)	1,546,307	1,977,177	2,637,556
Percent of total farmland	10.4	13.6	19.0

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	538,666	579,619	563,966
Percent of total farmland	3.6	4.0	4.1

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	188,902	147,878	441,655

Average farm size (acres)	300	305	281

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	44.5	46.0	54.3
100 to 499 acres	40.4	39.5	33.2
500 to 999 acres	8.3	7.4	6.0
1000 to 1,999 acres	4.7	4.5	3.7
2,000 or more acres	2.1	2.6	2.8

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	57.0	60.3	59.6
$10,000 to $49,999	18.0	17.9	20.6
$50,000 to $99,999	4.2	3.9	3.4
$100,000 to $499,999	14.3	12.2	7.0
More than $500,000	6.6	5.8	9.3

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	30,914	31,523	34,736
Percent of total	62.5	66.4	70.4

Part owner (farms)	13,305	12,291	11,287
Percent of total	26.9	25.9	22.9

Tenant owner (farms)	5,274	3,669	3,323
Percent of total	10.7	7.7	6.7

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	43,020	43,458	42,470
Percent of total	86.9	91.5	86.1

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,985	1,054	1,622
Percent of total	4.0	2.2	3.3

Partnerships (farms)	4,095	2,626	4,667
Percent of total	8.3	5.5	9.5

Non-family corporations (farms)	157	128	232
Percent of total	0.3	0.3	0.5

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	236	217	355
Percent of total	0.5	0.5	0.7

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.4	54.9	56.5
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	47.8	57.7	44.5
Men	44,922	42,644	43,015
Women	4,571	4,839	6,331

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

Farm Financial Indicators

	2007	2008
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	49,300	49,300

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,940,980	4,346,986
+ Final animal output	4,173,835	4,333,610
+ Services and forestry	804,654	1,130,099
= Final agricultural sector output	7,919,468	9,810,694

- Intermediate consumption outlays	4,789,189	5,422,272
+ Net government transactions	347,393	254,981
= Gross value added	3,477,673	4,643,404

- Capital consumption	508,983	539,394

= Net value added	2,968,690	4,104,010

- Factor payments	881,783	1,013,310
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	278,978	295,023
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	230,321	353,861
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	372,484	364,426

= Net farm income	2,086,907	3,090,700

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, 2008
1. Broilers	2,807,200	33.6	12.1
2. Rice	1,407,065	16.9	43.8
3. Soybeans	1,031,325	12.4	3.5
4. Cotton	515,409	6.2	9.1
5. Cattle and calves	494,614	5.9	1.0

All commodities	8,347,269		2.6

More information on Arkansas's top agriculture commodities • Leading commodities for cash receipts in a text file • Contact Ted Covey, 202-694-5344.

	Rank among states	Value million $
Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2008
1. Rice	1	918.1
2. Soybeans and products	9	806.8
3. Poultry and products	2	508.9
4. Cotton and linters	3	473.0
5. Wheat and products	18	275.8

Overall rank	11	3,216.1

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

	Percent of state total receipts	Thousands $
Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2007
1. Benton County	5.8	433,957
2. Washington County	5.6	417,965
3. Carroll County	3.5	261,109
4. Mississippi County	2.6	195,596
5. Phillips County	2.5	185,088

State total		7,508,806

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 2008, 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: October 21, 2009