Data Sets

State Fact Sheets: North Carolina

• 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	2,083,621	3,796,474	5,880,095
1990	2,217,336	4,411,301	6,628,637
2000	2,563,889	5,485,424	8,049,313
2008 (latest estimates)	2,736,180	6,486,234	9,222,414
More information on North Carolina 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	28,028	35,433	33,190
2007	28,534	35,959	33,735
Percent change	3.6	3.0	3.3

Earnings per job (2007 dollars)
2006	33,377	45,522	42,417
2007	33,104	45,372	42,275
Percent change	-1.6	-0.7	-0.7

Poverty rate (percent)
1979	17.7	13.2	14.8
1989	16.0	11.4	13.0
1999	14.9	11.1	12.3
2007 (latest model-based estimates)	16.9	13.2	14.3
More information on North Carolina 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	52.4	41.1	45.2
1990	37.1	26.4	30.0
2000	27.3	19.2	21.9

Percent completing high school only
1980	27.0	28.4	27.8
1990	30.7	28.1	29.0
2000	32.2	26.7	28.4

Percent completing some college
1980	11.5	15.0	13.8
1990	20.8	25.0	23.6
2000	26.0	27.8	27.2

Percent completing college
1980	9.2	15.5	13.2
1990	11.4	20.4	17.4
2000	14.5	26.3	22.5
More information on North Carolina 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	1,356,798	3,950,676	5,307,474
2007	1,378,508	4,082,333	5,460,841

Unemployment rate (percent)
2007	5.4	4.5	4.7
2008	7.3	5.9	6.3
More information on North Carolina 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	3.7	3.2
2006-2007	2.1	1.0	1.3
2007-2008	-3.9	0.4	-0.8

* 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)	31,179,568	31,174,963	31,113,828
Total farmland (acres)	9,444,867	9,079,001	8,474,671
Percent of total land area	30.3	29.1	27.2

Cropland (acres)	5,701,023	5,472,128	4,895,204
Percent of total farmland	60.4	60.3	57.8
Percent in pasture	16.2	12.2	6.9
Percent irrigated	2.6	4.4	4.3

Harvested Cropland (acres)	4,269,966	4,308,209	4,188,658

Woodland (acres)	2,788,642	2,520,118	2,201,609
Percent of total farmland	29.5	27.8	26.0
Percent in pasture	18.3	18.8	13.1

Pastureland (acres)	421,276	605,860	941,609
Percent of total farmland	4.5	6.7	11.1

Land in house lots, ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)	533,926	480,895	436,249
Percent of total farmland	5.7	5.3	5.1

Conservation practices
Farmland in conservation or wetlands reserve programs (acres)	152,836	183,000	163,676

Average farm size (acres)	160	168	160

Farms by size (percent)
1 to 99 acres	66.3	67.1	69.3
100 to 499 acres	26.9	25.6	24.0
500 to 999 acres	4.1	4.0	3.5
1000 to 1,999 acres	1.9	2.2	2.1
2,000 or more acres	0.8	1.0	1.0

Farms by sales (percent)
Less than $9,999	59.7	63.7	64.8
$10,000 to $49,999	18.0	15.9	16.2
$50,000 to $99,999	4.9	4.1	3.2
$100,000 to $499,999	10.9	9.7	7.0
More than $500,000	6.5	6.6	8.7

Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms)	35,904	34,489	34,526
Percent of total	60.7	64.0	65.3

Part owner (farms)	18,231	16,030	15,181
Percent of total	30.8	29.7	28.7

Tenant owner (farms)	4,985	3,411	3,206
Percent of total	8.4	6.3	6.1

Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole proprietorship (farms)	51,913	48,672	45,766
Percent of total	87.8	90.3	86.5

Family-held corporations (farms)	2,084	1,652	2,241
Percent of total	3.5	3.1	4.2

Partnerships (farms)	4,663	3,209	4,246
Percent of total	7.9	6.0	8.0

Non-family corporations (farms)	196	171	384
Percent of total	0.3	0.3	0.7

Others - cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, etc. (farms)	264	226	276
Percent of total	0.4	0.4	0.5

Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years)	54.8	56.1	57.3
Percent with farming as their primary occupation	45.6	58.7	45.8
Men	53,874	48,574	45,897
Women	5,246	5,356	7,016

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	52,900	52,500

	Thousands $
Final crop output	2,706,651	3,386,586
+ Final animal output	5,942,743	6,436,659
+ Services and forestry	1,116,736	1,207,450
= Final agricultural sector output	9,766,131	11,030,695

- Intermediate consumption outlays	5,998,268	6,925,834
+ Net government transactions	315,567	224,806
= Gross value added	4,083,430	4,329,666

- Capital consumption	596,614	627,123

= Net value added	3,486,816	3,702,543

- Factor payments	1,017,983	870,114
Employee compensation (total hired labor)	744,581	651,697
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords	-46,385	-87,836
Real estate and nonreal estate interest	319,787	306,253

= Net farm income	2,468,833	2,832,429

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	2,691,619	27.6	11.6
2. Hogs	2,170,806	22.3	13.5
3. Greenhouse/nursery	777,183	8.0	4.8
4. Tobacco	686,833	7.0	47.5
5. Turkeys	652,320	6.7	14.6

All commodities	9,752,796		3.0

More information on North Carolina'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. Tobacco unmfd.	1	573.6
2. Live animals and meat	6	553.5
3. Poultry and products	3	480.9
4. Soybeans and products	15	360.0
5. Wheat and products	16	314.6

Overall rank	13	3,117.6

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. Sampson County	11.6	1,196,332
2. Duplin County	11.4	1,176,272
3. Wayne County	4.9	501,176
4. Union County	4.0	410,496
5. Wilkes County	3.8	389,831

State total		10,313,628

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