Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Delaware

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

Data updated July 2, 2008

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Population, Income, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	98,004	496,334	594,338
1990	113,229	552,939	666,168
2000	156,638	626,962	783,600
2007 (latest estimates)	184,291	680,473	864,764
More information on Delaware 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	31,066	40,186	38,279
2006	31,385	41,204	39,131
Percent change	1.0	2.5	2.2

Earnings per job (2006 dollars)
2005	34,794	55,727	51,958
2006	33,986	55,597	51,650
Percent change	-2.4	-0.2	-0.6

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	13.6	11.5	11.9
1989	10.7	8.3	8.7
1999	10.5	8.9	9.2
2005 (latest model-based estimates)	11.2	10.1	10.3
More information on Delaware 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	42.9	28.9	31.4
1990	30.3	20.8	22.5
2000	23.5	15.7	17.4

Percent completing high school only
1980	35.0	36.4	36.2
1990	37.3	31.7	32.7
2000	35.6	30.3	31.4

Percent completing some college
1980	11.9	15.6	15.0
1990	19.4	24.3	23.4
2000	24.3	26.6	26.1

Percent completing college
1980	9.9	19.1	17.5
1990	13.0	23.3	21.4
2000	16.6	27.4	25.0
More information on Delaware 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	96,163	437,891	534,054
2006	99,190	443,903	543,093

Unemployment rate (percent)
2006	3.2	3.6	3.5
2007	3.3	3.4	3.4
More information on Delaware 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	4.5	1.1	1.8
2005-2006	2.6	1.8	2.0
2006-2007	-0.1	1.2	0.9

Percent of 2002 employment in farm and farm-related jobs
Total	23.9	11.0	13.2
Production	2.5	0.5	0.8
Farm inputs	0.5	0.1	0.1
Processing & marketing	7.3	0.8	1.9
Wholesale & retail trade	13.1	8.9	9.6
More information on farm employment • Farm and Farm-Related Employment data • Contact Tim Parker, 202-694-5435

* 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)	1.25	1.25	1.25
Total farmland (million acres)	0.59	0.59	0.54
Percent of total land area	47.1	47.1	43.2

Cropland (million acres)	0.50	0.49	0.46
Percent of total farmland	84.0	83.4	84.7
Percent in pasture	1.9	2.3	1.5
Percent irrigated	12.4	15.2	21.2

Harvested Cropland (million acres)	0.47	0.47	0.43

Woodland (million acres)	0.07	0.06	0.05
Percent of total farmland	11.2	10.8	9.9
Percent in pasture	8.5	5.2	9.7

Pastureland (million acres)	0.01	0.01	0.01
Percent of total farmland	0.9	1.1	1.2

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (million acres)	0.02	0.03	0.02
Percent of total farmland	3.8	4.7	4.2

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (million acres)	0.00	0.00	0.01
Percent of total farmland	0.1	0.4	1.3

Average farm size (acres)	224	221	226

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	60.7	63.8	66.0
100 to 499 acres	28.2	25.2	23.0
500 to 999 acres	6.1	5.8	5.1
1000 to 1,999 acres	3.4	3.5	3.7
2,000 or more acres	1.6	1.7	2.2

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	32.5	32.3	36.8
$10,000 to $49,999	19.0	18.0	12.8
$50,000 to $99,999	6.9	6.7	7.5
$100,000 to $499,999	31.1	23.7	29.0
More than $500,000	10.4	19.5	13.8

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	1,607	1,691	1,597
Percent of total	61.0	63.3	66.8

Part owner (farms)	788	726	618
Percent of total	29.9	27.2	25.8

Tenant owner (farms)	238	254	176
Percent of total	9.0	9.5	7.4

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	2,226	2,176	2,015
Percent of total	84.5	81.5	84.3

Family-held corporations (farms)	172	240	199
Percent of total	6.5	9.0	8.3

Partnerships (farms)	213	216	136
Percent of total	8.1	8.1	5.7

Non-family corporations (farms)	9	14	13
Percent of total	0.3	0.5	0.5

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	13	25	28
Percent of total	0.5	0.9	1.2

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	52.7	53.4	54.8
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	59.9	59.9	69.4
Men (persons)	2,346	2,354	2,062
Women (persons)	287	317	329

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

	2005	2006
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	2,300	2,300

	Thousands $
Final crop output	168,192	182,759
+ Final animal output	791,236	786,245
+ Services and forestry	135,716	153,273
= Final agricultural sector output	1,095,144	1,122,276

- Intermediate consumption outlays	591,262	621,151
+ Net government transactions	20,933	12,786
= Gross value added	524,815	513,911

- Capital consumption	57,947	61,601

= Net value added	466,868	452,310

- Factor payments	61,111	64,061
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	30,208	31,062
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	2,654	1,015
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	28,249	31,984

= Net farm income	405,757	388,249

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, 2006
1. Broilers	739,230	76.3	3.9
2. Corn	47,225	4.9	0.2
3. Greenhouse/nursery	34,580	3.6	0.2
4. Soybeans	29,235	3.0	0.2
5. Dairy products	17,168	1.8	0.1

All commodities	969,124		0.4

More information on Delaware'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. Poultry and products	16	84.2
2. Wheat and products	39	22.2
3. Feed grains and products	33	16.3
4. Soybeans and products	27	14.8
5. Vegetables and preparations	27	8.6

Overall rank	40	160.0

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. Sussex County	74.8	462.8
2. Kent County	20.8	128.7
3. New Castle County	4.4	27.3
4.
5.

State total		618.9

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: July 2, 2008