Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: Kentucky

• 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

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Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Population
Year
1980	1,672,223	1,988,101	3,660,324
1990	1,645,442	2,039,854	3,685,296
2000	1,769,275	2,272,494	4,041,769
2010	1,815,597	2,523,770	4,339,367
More information on Kentucky population • County-level Population Data • Rural Population and Migration Briefing Room • Contact John Cromartie, 202-694-5421.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Income
Per-capita income (2009 dollars)
2008	26,480	36,360	32,168
2009	27,149	35,995	32,258
Percent change	2.5	-1.0	0.3

Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
2008	33,794	46,393	41,947
2009	34,494	47,145	42,678
Percent change	2.1	1.6	1.7

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	23.0	13.0	17.6
1989	25.4	13.9	19.0
1999	21.2	11.6	15.8
2010 (latest model-based estimates)	22.9	16.0	18.9
More information on Kentucky 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

	2002-04 Avg.	2005-07 Avg.	2008-10 Avg.
Household-level Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security
Percent of households
Food insecure	12.2	12.7	15.6
Very low food security	3.3	4.5	5.7
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.

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Education (Persons 25 and older)
Percent not completing high school
1980 (Census)	56.7	38.6	46.9
1990 (Census)	45.2	27.5	35.4
2000 (Census)	34.3	19.2	25.9
2006-2010 (ACS)	25.7	14.1	19.0

Percent completing high school only
1980 (Census)	28.0	34.5	31.3
1990 (Census)	31.3	32.1	31.8
2000 (Census)	35.5	32.1	33.6
2006-2010 (ACS)	37.8	31.8	34.4

Percent completing some college
1980 (Census)	8.0	13.1	10.7
1990 (Census)	14.4	23.1	19.2
2000 (Census)	19.0	26.9	23.4
2006-2010 (ACS)	22.8	28.8	26.2

Percent completing college
1980 (Census)	7.8	13.8	11.1
1990 (Census)	9.0	17.3	13.6
2000 (Census)	11.3	21.8	17.1
2006-2010 (ACS)	13.7	25.4	20.3
More information on Kentucky education • County-level Education Data • Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room • Contact Alexander Marré, 202-694-5338

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Employment
Total number of jobs
2008	849,611	1,558,056	2,407,667
2009	821,599	1,505,399	2,326,998

Percent employment change
2007-2008	-1.0	-0.8	-0.9
2008-2009	-2.0	-2.2	-2.1
2009-2010	-0.1	0.8	0.5

Unemployment rate (percent)
2009	11.5	10.1	10.7
2010	11.2	10.0	10.5
More information on Kentucky unemployment rates • County-level Unemployment and Median Household Income Data • Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room • Contact Lorin Kusmin, 202-694-5429

	Rural *	Urban *	Total
Federal Funds, FY 2010
Federal funding, dollars per person
All Federal funds	13,262	13,705	13,520

Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
Agriculture and natural resources	159	116	134
Community resources	888	1,466	1,224
Defense and space	626	4,587	2,932
Human resources	261	163	204
Income security	9,914	5,973	7,620
National functions	1,414	1,400	1,406

Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
Grants	2,353	1,137	1,645
Direct loans	355	366	361
Guaranteed/insured loans	560	1,363	1,027
Retirement/disability payments	3,942	3,026	3,409
Other direct payments to individuals	4,112	2,352	3,087
Direct payments, not to individuals	170	135	150
Procurement contracts	1,216	2,086	1,722
Salaries and wages	553	3,241	2,118
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	11	1	57
Crops (acres)	776		1,676
Pasture & rangeland (acres)	176	196	3,630
Total acres	952	196	5,306
More information on organic agriculture • Organic Production Data • Organic Agriculture Briefing Room • Contact Catherine Greene, 202-694-5541.

Farm Characteristics

	1997	2002	2007
1997, 2002 and 2007 Census of Agriculture

Approximate total land area (acres)	25,428,692	25,426,029	25,275,577
Total farmland (acres)	13,940,180	13,843,706	13,993,121
Percent of total land area	54.8	54.4	55.4

Cropland (acres)	8,887,861	8,412,354	7,278,098
Percent of total farmland	63.8	60.8	52.0
Percent in pasture	36.0	30.7	20.2
Percent irrigated	0.6	0.4	0.8

Harvested Cropland (acres)	4,853,500	4,978,994	5,057,883

Woodland (acres)	3,178,769	3,111,626	3,107,137
Percent of total farmland	22.8	22.5	22.2
Percent in pasture	30.1	29.0	26.0

Pastureland (acres)	1,179,706	1,613,681	2,912,424
Percent of total farmland	8.5	11.7	20.8

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	693,844	706,045	695,462
Percent of total farmland	5.0	5.1	5.0

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	370,090	403,946	375,049

Average farm size (acres)	153	160	164

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	57.6	57.4	56.8
100 to 499 acres	37.1	36.9	37.3
500 to 999 acres	3.7	3.7	3.8
1000 to 1,999 acres	1.2	1.4	1.4
2,000 or more acres	0.4	0.5	0.6

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	58.9	67.3	66.5
$10,000 to $49,999	29.6	22.7	22.2
$50,000 to $99,999	5.3	4.0	4.3
$100,000 to $499,999	5.4	4.8	5.1
More than $500,000	0.9	1.1	1.9

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	66,243	66,456	65,445
Percent of total	72.6	76.8	76.8

Part owner (farms)	18,229	15,937	16,534
Percent of total	20.0	18.4	19.4

Tenant owner (farms)	6,726	4,148	3,281
Percent of total	7.4	4.8	3.8

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	79,441	79,297	76,140
Percent of total	87.1	91.6	89.3

Family-held corporations (farms)	1,184	983	1,273
Percent of total	1.3	1.1	1.5

Partnerships (farms)	10,004	5,764	7,334
Percent of total	11.0	6.7	8.6

Non-family corporations (farms)	183	136	156
Percent of total	0.2	0.2	0.2

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	386	361	357
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.4

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	53.7	55.2	56.5
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	39.5	54.2	39.8
Men	82,591	78,267	76,150
Women	8,607	8,274	9,110

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

Farm Financial Indicators

	2009	2010
Farm income and value added data

Number of farms	85,500	85,700

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,130,419	1,588,855
+ Final animal output	2,440,427	2,521,858
+ Services and forestry	1,012,596	997,636
= Final agricultural sector output	5,583,442	5,108,349

- Intermediate consumption outlays	2,827,962	2,818,056
+ Net government transactions	188,094	172,179
= Gross value added	2,943,574	2,462,472

- Capital consumption	913,231	933,483

= Net value added	2,030,343	1,528,989

- Factor payments	719,864	748,196
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	319,890	308,572
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	97,184	149,408
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	302,790	290,216

= Net farm income	1,310,479	780,793

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

	Value of receipts thousand $	Percent of state total farm receipts	Percent of US value
Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2010
1. Broilers	806,627	18.2	3.4
2. Horses/mules	700,000	15.8	92.2
3. Cattle and calves	615,515	13.9	1.2
4. Corn	603,509	13.6	1.3
5. Soybeans	583,132	13.1	1.8

All commodities	4,440,146		1.4

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

	Rank among states	Value million $
Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2010
1. Live animals and meat	10	358.9
2. Soybeans and products	15	313.5
3. Tobacco unmfd.	2	237.8
4. Feed grains and products	15	134.2
5. Poultry and products	13	113.7

Total export value	24	1,364.4

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. Fayette County	10.4	504,125
2. Woodford County	7.1	341,058
3. Graves County	5.1	245,210
4. Bourbon County	3.7	179,583
5. McLean County	3.3	161,060

State total		4,824,561

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.
Current Population Survey, Food Security Supplements , 2002-2010, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Regional Economic Information System, April 2011, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.
1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 Census of Population, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce.
2006-2010 American Community Survey, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, Consolidated Federal Funds Report
Organic data, USDA, Economic Research Service, based on information from USDA-accredited State and private organic certifiers.
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: January 17, 2012