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State Fact Sheets: Maine

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

Data Download
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Questions & Answers
Excel file ME-fact-sheet.xls

Population, Income, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 504,196 620,847 1,125,043
    1990 534,811 693,117 1,227,928
    2000 538,643 736,280 1,274,923
    2008 (latest estimates) 546,863 769,593 1,316,456

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

Income
  Rural * Urban * Total
Per-capita income (2007 dollars)
    2006 29,475 35,872 33,207
    2007 30,067 36,791 33,991
    Percent change 4.0 5.1 4.7
 
Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
    2006 32,528 40,253 37,257
    2007 32,782 40,555 37,561
    Percent change 1.6 1.5 1.6
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 15.0 11.3 13.0
    1989 12.9 9.2 10.8
    1999 12.8 9.6 10.9
    2007 (latest model-based estimates) 14.3 10.6 12.2

More information on Maine 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

Education (Persons 25 and older)
  Rural * Urban * Total
Percent not completing high school
    1980 32.8 30.2 31.3
    1990 23.1 19.7 21.2
    2000 16.6 13.2 14.6
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 40.0 38.8 39.3
    1990 39.5 35.2 37.1
    2000 39.2 33.9 36.2
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 14.2 15.7 15.0
    1990 21.5 24.1 23.0
    2000 24.8 27.5 26.3
 
Percent completing college
    1980 13.2 15.4 14.4
    1990 16.0 21.0 18.8
    2000 19.4 25.4 22.9

More information on Maine education
County-level Education Data
Rural Labor and Education Briefing Room
• Contact Robert Gibbs, 202-694-5423

Employment
  Rural * Urban * Total
Total number of jobs
    2006 320,984 506,645 827,629
    2007 319,811 510,410 830,221
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2007 5.5 4.1 4.6
    2008 6.4 4.8 5.4

More information on Maine 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 1.4 1.2 1.3
    2006-2007 -1.1 1.0 0.1
    2007-2008 -0.1 -0.2 -0.2
 

* 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 and 2007 Census of Agriculture
 
  1997 2002 2007
Approximate total land area (acres) 19,753,294 19,751,393 19,745,809
    Total farmland (acres) 1,313,066 1,369,768 1,347,566
        Percent of total land area 6.6 6.9 6.8
 
        Cropland (acres) 580,260 536,839 529,253
            Percent of total farmland 44.2 39.2 39.3
            Percent in pasture 12.6 8.9 7.0
            Percent irrigated 3.8 3.6 3.9
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 426,711 394,121 393,738
 
        Woodland (acres) 613,812 702,555 660,679
            Percent of total farmland 46.7 51.3 49.0
            Percent in pasture 7.1 5.5 4.0
 
        Pastureland (acres) 31,888 40,967 62,014
            Percent of total farmland 2.4 3.0 4.6
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)
87,106 89,407 95,620
            Percent of total farmland 6.6 6.5 7.1
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)
27,418 26,259 32,812
 
Average farm size (acres) 177 190 166
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 52.8 56.1 61.6
            100 to 499 acres 39.9 35.9 32.1
            500 to 999 acres 5.3 5.5 4.1
            1000 to 1,999 acres 1.5 1.9 1.6
            2,000 or more acres 0.4 0.7 0.6
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 65.1 70.8 68.9
            $10,000 to $49,999 18.9 15.5 17.6
            $50,000 to $99,999 5.4 4.3 4.0
            $100,000 to $499,999 8.7 7.1 7.1
            More than $500,000 1.9 2.3 2.4
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 5,055 5,242 6,074
            Percent of total 68.3 72.8 74.7
 
        Part owner (farms) 1,931 1,604 1,681
            Percent of total 26.1 22.3 20.7
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 418 350 381
            Percent of total 5.6 4.9 4.7
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)
6,557 6,377 6,956
            Percent of total 88.6 88.6 85.5
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)
405 371 506
            Percent of total 5.5 5.2 6.2
 
        Partnerships (farms) 347 321 544
            Percent of total 4.7 4.5 6.7
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 51 51 46
            Percent of total 0.7 0.7 0.6
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)
44 76 84
            Percent of total 0.6 1.1 1.0
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 53.8 53.7 56.4
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation
44.9 47.4 43.5
        Men 6,250 5,637 6,093
        Women 1,154 1,559 2,043
 

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
  2007 2008
 
Number of farms 8,100 8,000
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 351,473 325,547
+     Final animal output 298,606 335,208
+     Services and forestry 82,843 83,160
=   Final agricultural sector output 732,922 743,916
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 343,123 365,421
+     Net government transactions -17,728 -23,260
=   Gross value added 372,071 355,235
 
-      Capital consumption 65,127 68,377
 
=   Net value added 306,944 286,858
 
-    Factor payments 127,196 119,628
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 96,272 92,182
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords -774 -2,930
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 31,698 30,376
 
=   Net farm income 179,748 167,230
 

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

Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2008
  Value of receipts
thousand $
Percent of state total
farm receipts
Percent of US value
1. Potatoes 145,121 21.5 3.9
2. Dairy products 123,786 18.3 0.4
3. Chicken eggs 104,436 15.5 1.3
4. Greenhouse/nursery 55,578 8.2 0.3
5. Blueberries 54,850 8.1 9.3
 
All commodities 675,738   0.2
 

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

Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2008
  Rank among states Value
million $
1. Vegetables and preparations 18 44.3
2. Fruits and preparations 9 44.2
3. Other 38 14.0
4. Feeds and fodders 40 7.7
5. Poultry and products 30 5.9
 
Overall rank 42 120.9
 

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. Aroostook County 23.7 146,516
2. Androscoggin County 11.1 68,445
3. Washington County 10.7 66,133
4. Kennebec County 10.3 63,521
5. Somerset County 8.7 53,404
 
State total   617,190
 

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: October 21, 2009