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State Fact Sheets: California
• Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment
• Federal Funds
• Organic Agriculture
• Farm Characteristics
• Farm Financial Indicators
• Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
• About the State Fact Sheets

Data updated January 17, 2012

Data Download
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Excel file CA-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file CA-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 569,423 23,098,342 23,667,765
    1990 713,834 29,046,187 29,760,021
    2000 796,198 33,075,450 33,871,648
    2010 845,229 36,408,727 37,253,956

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

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2009 dollars)
    2008 34,554 43,890 43,678
    2009 34,321 42,581 42,395
    Percent change -0.7 -3.0 -2.9
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 37,841 57,659 57,266
    2009 37,841 57,687 57,291
    Percent change 0.0 0.0 0.0
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 12.0 11.4 11.4
    1989 13.4 12.5 12.5
    1999 15.2 14.2 14.2
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 17.0 15.8 15.8

More information on California 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

Household-level Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
  2002-04 Avg. 2005-07 Avg. 2008-10 Avg.
Percent of households
    Food insecure 12.4 10.2 15.9
    Very low food security 3.9 3.5 5.8

More information on Food Insecurity
• Food Security in the United States Briefing Room
• Definitions of Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
• Comparisons of prevalence rates of food insecurity between States must take account of the margins of error, which are sizeable for many States. Margins of error are published along with State prevalence rates in each year’s Household Food Security in the United States report.
• Contact Alisha Coleman-Jensen, 202-694-5456.

Education (Persons 25 and older)
  Rural * Urban * Total
Percent not completing high school
    1980 (Census) 25.3 26.6 26.5
    1990 (Census) 21.9 23.9 23.8
    2000 (Census) 17.8 23.3 23.2
    2006-2010 (ACS) 13.2 19.5 19.3
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 38.0 31.3 31.4
    1990 (Census) 30.0 22.1 22.3
    2000 (Census) 27.5 19.9 20.1
    2006-2010 (ACS) 27.7 21.3 21.5
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 21.9 22.4 22.4
    1990 (Census) 32.4 30.5 30.5
    2000 (Census) 36.7 29.9 30.0
    2006-2010 (ACS) 38.0 28.9 29.1
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 14.6 19.7 19.6
    1990 (Census) 15.6 23.6 23.4
    2000 (Census) 18.0 26.8 26.6
    2006-2010 (ACS) 21.1 30.3 30.1

More information on California education
• County-level Education Data
• Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Alexander Marré, 202-694-5338

Employment
  Rural * Urban * Total
Total number of jobs
    2008 413,353 20,397,296 20,810,649
    2009 398,727 19,589,994 19,988,722
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 -0.9 -0.5 -0.5
    2008-2009 -3.1 -4.4 -4.4
    2009-2010 -1.8 -1.4 -1.4
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 12.3 11.3 11.3
    2010 13.8 12.4 12.4

More information on California unemployment rates
• County-level Unemployment and Median Household Income Data
• Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Lorin Kusmin, 202-694-5429

Federal Funds, FY 2010
  Rural * Urban * Total
Federal funding, dollars per person
   All Federal funds 9,806 9,433 9,441
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 158 38 41
      Community resources 1,062 1,452 1,443
      Defense and space 531 1,414 1,394
      Human resources 250 216 217
      Income security 6,771 4,948 4,990
      National functions 1,034 1,364 1,356
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,474 1,605 1,602
      Direct loans 156 186 186
      Guaranteed/insured loans 854 1,378 1,366
      Retirement/disability payments 3,575 2,240 2,270
      Other direct payments to
      individuals		 2,201 1,753 1,763
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals		 128 53 54
      Procurement contracts 697 1,560 1,541
      Salaries and wages 721 657 658

Total does not include Statewide funds undistributed at the county level.

More information on Federal Funds
• Program Function and Object Code Definitions
• Federal Funds and Development Policy Briefing Room
• Federal Funds Data
• Contact Richard Reeder, 202-694-5360


* The terms “rural” and “urban” here refer to data for nonmetro and metro areas, a county-level classification defined by the Office of Management and Budget. We use the June 2003 version of nonmetro and metro areas because it reflects conditions at the beginning of the decade. See Measuring Rurality: What is Rural? for a discussion of differences between metro-nonmetro categories and the Census Bureau’s rural-urban classification.
 
More information on socioeconomic conditions
• Rural Emphasis Page
• Contact Tim Parker, 202-694-5435.

Organic Agriculture

  2006 2007 2008
Number of certified operations 2,391 2,790 2,887
Crops (acres) 246,028 322,563 430,724
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 236,350 271,247 289,767
Total acres 482,378 593,810 720,491

More information on organic agriculture
• Organic Production Data
• Organic Agriculture Briefing Room
• Contact Catherine Greene, 202-694-5541.

Farm Characteristics

1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture
 
  1997 2002 2007
Approximate total land area (acres) 99,822,871 99,813,971 99,689,515
    Total farmland (acres) 28,795,834 27,589,027 25,364,695
        Percent of total land area 28.8 27.6 25.4
 
        Cropland (acres) 11,062,811 10,994,161 9,464,647
            Percent of total farmland 38.4 39.8 37.3
            Percent in pasture 12.1 12.2 8.5
            Percent irrigated 73.2 72.3 76.9
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 8,676,242 8,466,321 7,633,173
 
        Woodland (acres) 1,213,093 1,191,484 1,270,720
            Percent of total farmland 4.2 4.3 5.0
            Percent in pasture 58.3 57.0 61.6
 
        Pastureland (acres) 15,021,823 13,987,763 13,275,042
            Percent of total farmland 52.2 50.7 52.3
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)		 1,498,107 1,415,619 1,354,286
            Percent of total farmland 5.2 5.1 5.3
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)		 254,229 220,240 254,013
 
Average farm size (acres) 327 346 313
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 72.9 72.0 75.0
            100 to 499 acres 16.5 17.5 15.4
            500 to 999 acres 4.4 4.5 4.0
            1000 to 1,999 acres 3.0 3.0 2.7
            2,000 or more acres 3.1 3.0 2.8
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 49.9 46.0 46.6
            $10,000 to $49,999 19.4 20.8 22.3
            $50,000 to $99,999 7.9 8.5 7.7
            $100,000 to $499,999 13.8 14.3 12.9
            More than $500,000 9.1 10.2 10.6
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 64,794 60,894 63,777
            Percent of total 73.6 76.5 78.7
 
        Part owner (farms) 12,218 10,636 9,843
            Percent of total 13.9 13.4 12.1
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 10,979 8,101 7,413
            Percent of total 12.5 10.2 9.1
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)		 69,154 64,442 64,001
            Percent of total 78.6 80.9 79.0
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)		 4,675 4,269 4,603
            Percent of total 5.3 5.4 5.7
 
        Partnerships (farms) 11,836 8,953 9,552
            Percent of total 13.5 11.2 11.8
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 829 801 1,147
            Percent of total 0.9 1.0 1.4
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)		 1,497 1,166 1,730
            Percent of total 1.7 1.5 2.1
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 55.7 56.8 58.4
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation		 49.8 61.7 50.5
        Men 74,973 67,016 66,068
        Women 13,018 12,615 14,965
 

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

Farm Financial Indicators

Farm income and value added data
  2009 2010
 
Number of farms 81,500 81,700
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 26,745,539 27,696,653
+     Final animal output 7,777,910 9,859,188
+     Services and forestry 2,960,275 3,300,255
=   Final agricultural sector output 37,483,724 40,856,096
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 18,866,866 19,757,203
+     Net government transactions -368,486 -643,361
=   Gross value added 18,248,371 20,455,532
 
-      Capital consumption 1,564,347 1,594,522
 
=   Net value added 16,684,024 18,861,009
 
-    Factor payments 8,228,251 8,150,077
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 6,251,686 6,252,464
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 439,412 427,322
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 1,537,153 1,470,291
 
=   Net farm income 8,455,774 10,710,933
 

More information on farm income
• Farm Income Data
• Farm Income and Costs Briefing Room
• Contact Timothy Park, 202-694-5446.

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, 2010
  Value of receipts
thousand $		 Percent of state total
farm receipts		 Percent of US value
1. Dairy products 5,928,150 15.8 18.9
2. Greenhouse/nursery 3,765,021 10.0 24.2
3. Grapes 3,200,405 8.5 88.2
4. Almonds 2,838,500 7.6 100.0
5. Cattle and calves 2,089,194 5.6 4.1
 
All commodities 37,520,956   11.9
 

More information on California's top agriculture commodities
• Leading commodities by cash receipts in Excel.
• Other cash receipts data.
• Contact Ted Covey, 202-694-5344.

Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2010
  Rank among states Value
million $
1. Tree Nuts 1 3,599.9
2. Fruits and preparations 1 3,194.2
3. Vegetables and preparations 1 2,085.3
4. Other 1 1,087.1
5. Dairy Products 2 705.7
 
Total export value 1 12,794.0
 

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

Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2007
  Percent of state total receipts Thousands $
1. Fresno County 11.0 3,730,546
2. Tulare County 9.8 3,335,014
3. Kern County 9.5 3,204,147
4. Merced County 6.9 2,330,408
5. Monterey County 6.4 2,178,470
 
State total   33,885,064
 

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: January 17, 2012