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State Fact Sheets: Massachusetts
• 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 MA-Fact-Sheet.xls
PDF file MA-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Population, Income, Food Insecurity, Education, and Employment

Population
  Rural * Urban * Total
Year
    1980 14,029 5,723,064 5,737,093
    1990 17,651 5,998,774 6,016,425
    2000 24,507 6,324,590 6,349,097
    2010 26,707 6,520,922 6,547,629

More information on Massachusetts 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 61,783 50,765 50,811
    2009 59,523 49,612 49,653
    Percent change -3.7 -2.3 -2.3
 
Earnings per job (2009 dollars)
    2008 43,745 61,040 60,935
    2009 42,287 60,765 60,655
    Percent change -3.3 -0.5 -0.5
 
Poverty rate (percent)
    1979 8.2 9.6 9.6
    1989 6.4 8.9 8.9
    1999 7.4 9.3 9.3
    2010 (latest model-based estimates) 8.2 11.5 11.4

More information on Massachusetts 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 7.1 8.0 10.8
    Very low food security 2.7 3.2 4.5

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) 16.1 27.8 27.8
    1990 (Census) 10.0 20.0 20.0
    2000 (Census) 9.1 15.3 15.2
    2006-2010 (ACS) 6.6 11.3 11.3
 
Percent completing high school only
    1980 (Census) 43.0 36.4 36.4
    1990 (Census) 28.6 29.7 29.7
    2000 (Census) 25.0 27.3 27.3
    2006-2010 (ACS) 27.7 26.7 26.7
 
Percent completing some college
    1980 (Census) 19.4 15.7 15.8
    1990 (Census) 29.0 23.0 23.0
    2000 (Census) 27.5 24.3 24.3
    2006-2010 (ACS) 25.7 23.6 23.7
 
Percent completing college
    1980 (Census) 21.9 20.0 20.0
    1990 (Census) 32.4 27.2 27.2
    2000 (Census) 38.4 33.2 33.2
    2006-2010 (ACS) 40.1 38.3 38.3

More information on Massachusetts 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 25,524 4,180,002 4,205,526
    2009 24,570 4,078,093 4,102,663
 
Percent employment change
    2007-2008 -0.9 0.1 0.1
    2008-2009 -5.5 -2.8 -2.8
    2009-2010 0.3 0.2 0.2
 
Unemployment rate (percent)
    2009 6.6 8.2 8.2
    2010 7.8 8.5 8.5

More information on Massachusetts 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 7,232 12,771 12,749
 
Federal funding by purpose (function codes)
      Agriculture and natural resources 17 12 12
      Community resources 1,162 1,312 1,311
      Defense and space 199 2,146 2,138
      Human resources 80 239 239
      Income security 5,111 6,595 6,589
      National functions 664 2,466 2,459
 
Federal funding by type of payments (object codes)
      Grants 1,333 2,804 2,798
      Direct loans 17 426 425
      Guaranteed/insured loans 524 1,185 1,183
      Retirement/disability payments 2,782 2,808 2,807
      Other direct payments to
      individuals		 1,711 2,355 2,352
      Direct payments, not to
      individuals		 95 58 58
      Procurement contracts 343 2,447 2,438
      Salaries and wages 428 688 687

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 86 97 103
Crops (acres) 1,716 2,173 2,827
Pasture & rangeland (acres) 359 494 1,273
Total acres 2,075 2,667 4,099

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) 5,016,290 5,017,610 4,992,934
    Total farmland (acres) 577,637 518,570 517,879
        Percent of total land area 11.5 10.3 10.4
 
        Cropland (acres) 247,267 207,734 187,406
            Percent of total farmland 42.8 40.1 36.2
            Percent in pasture 18.6 14.4 8.7
            Percent irrigated 10.7 11.3 12.1
 
            Harvested Cropland (acres) 184,480 159,253 153,993
 
        Woodland (acres) 219,765 210,891 212,539
            Percent of total farmland 38.0 40.7 41.0
            Percent in pasture 10.6 10.7 10.3
 
        Pastureland (acres) 27,902 31,279 48,120
            Percent of total farmland 4.8 6.0 9.3
 
        Land in house lots, ponds,
        roads, wasteland, etc. (acres)		 82,703 68,666 69,814
            Percent of total farmland 14.3 13.2 13.5
 
Conservation practices
        Farmland in conservation or
        wetlands reserve programs
        (acres)		 3,114 191 580
 
Average farm size (acres) 79 85 67
 
Farms by size (percent)
            1 to 99 acres 77.5 75.4 80.5
            100 to 499 acres 20.5 21.9 18.0
            500 to 999 acres 1.6 2.1 1.2
            1000 to 1,999 acres 0.4 0.5 0.3
            2,000 or more acres 0.1 0.0 0.1
 
Farms by sales (percent)
            Less than $9,999 59.4 63.6 64.2
            $10,000 to $49,999 20.7 18.7 20.2
            $50,000 to $99,999 7.3 6.3 5.2
            $100,000 to $499,999 10.3 9.2 7.9
            More than $500,000 2.4 2.2 2.5
 
Tenure of farmers
        Full owner (farms) 5,115 4,355 5,647
            Percent of total 70.0 71.7 73.4
 
        Part owner (farms) 1,568 1,221 1,373
            Percent of total 21.5 20.1 17.9
 
        Tenant owner (farms) 624 499 671
            Percent of total 8.5 8.2 8.7
 
Farm organization
        Individuals/family, sole
        proprietorship (farms)		 6,023 5,020 6,318
            Percent of total 82.4 82.6 82.1
 
        Family-held corporations
        (farms)		 592 494 566
            Percent of total 8.1 8.1 7.4
 
        Partnerships (farms) 521 376 574
            Percent of total 7.1 6.2 7.5
 
        Non-family corporations (farms) 75 65 75
            Percent of total 1.0 1.1 1.0
 
        Others - cooperative, estate or
        trust, institutional, etc. (farms)		 96 120 158
            Percent of total 1.3 2.0 2.1
 
Characteristics of principal farm operators
        Average operator age (years) 54.2 54.9 56.3
        Percent with farming as their
         primary occupation		 49.3 54.0 48.0
        Men 5,939 4,770 5,465
        Women 1,368 1,305 2,226
 

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 7,700 7,700
 
  Thousands $
       Final crop output 365,027 356,389
+     Final animal output 95,420 104,136
+     Services and forestry 165,113 218,961
=   Final agricultural sector output 625,560 679,486
 
-      Intermediate consumption outlays 272,371 264,900
+     Net government transactions -26,818 -22,397
=   Gross value added 326,371 392,189
 
-      Capital consumption 93,348 95,378
 
=   Net value added 233,023 296,811
 
-    Factor payments 144,860 141,246
         Employee compensation (total hired labor) 117,388 113,235
         Net rent received by nonoperator landlords -6,375 -4,265
         Real estate and nonreal estate interest 33,847 32,276
 
=   Net farm income 88,164 155,566
 

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. Greenhouse/nursery 154,300 32.9 1.0
2. Cranberries 81,880 17.5 25.9
3. Dairy products 43,380 9.3 0.1
4. Apples 19,143 4.1 0.8
5. Corn, sweet 17,550 3.7 1.8
 
All commodities 468,746   0.1
 

More information on Massachusetts'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. Other 24 48.3
2. Tobacco unmfd. 8 19.4
3. Wheat and products 40 14.2
4. Fruits and preparations 17 12.1
5. Vegetables and preparations 34 5.1
 
Total export value 44 107.8
 

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. Middlesex County 16.7 81,708
2. Worcester County 16.4 80,550
3. Plymouth County 16.0 78,440
4. Franklin County 11.6 56,844
5. Bristol County 9.0 44,245
 
State total   489,820
 

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