United States Department of Agriculture

A report summary from the Economic Research Service

ERS is a primary source 

of economic research and 

analysis from the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 

providing timely information on economic and policy 

issues related to agriculture, 

food, the environment,and 

rural America. www.ers.usda.gov

Jason P. Brown

Jeremy G. Weber

The Off-Farm Occupations 

of U.S. Farm Operators 

and Their Spouses

Economic

Research

Service

Economic 

Information

Bulletin 

Number 117 

September 2013

United States Department of Agriculture

September 2013

Find the full report at 

www.ers.usda.gov/

publications/eib-economic-informationbulletin/eib-117.aspx

What Is the Issue?

Because of the broad definition of a farm—which includes numerous small operations that produce 

little or no agricultural commodities in any given year—most farm households earn all of their 

income from nonfarm sources. However, even those operating farms with substantial production 

often have significant nonfarm income. Most nonfarm income, in turn, comes from off-farm jobs. 

Since farm household income has increased more than the income of the typical U.S. household 

over the last 15 years, based largely on higher nonfarm incomes, a closer examination of what 

farm operators and their spouses do to earn their nonfarm income is warranted. Are there complementarities between what farm household members do on and off the farm that could explain past 

income trends? Looking forward, as the skills demanded and nurtured on the farm change with 

evolving technologies, particularly on larger farms, how will the opportunities and compensation for 

off-farm jobs change for farm operators and their spouses? Prior research has shown the importance 

of distinguishing between what people “make” (industry) versus what they “do” (occupation). This 

report describes the most common occupations and industries of off-farm wage and salary jobs held 

by the operators of family farms and their spouses. 

What Did the Study Find?

Most farm households (91 percent) have at least one family member working at an off-farm 

job. Of farm operators and their spouses with off-farm jobs, 35.9 percent held professional and 

management occupations in 2010. This is higher than for metropolitan area workers in general 

(31.6 percent) or for nonmetropolitan workers (25.3 percent). Operators of larger farms and 

their spouses reported the highest shares of management and professional occupations in their 

off-farm jobs, suggesting that they have a high capacity to apply their knowledge and skills 

from managing a sizeable farm operation to other areas of employment.

• Farm operators and their spouses are more likely than other workers to have management 

and professional off-farm occupations.

• Management and professional occupations paid higher wages on average than other occupations. 

For farm operators, management occupations paid $7 an hour more (on average) than the next 

highest paying occupation (sales and office support), and nearly double that paid by service occupations or those in production, transportation, and materials moving. Although the wage differences are more modest for spouses, management occupations still paid them 21 percent more 

than the next highest paying occupation.

• Professional and management occupations were most commonly held by operators and spouses 

with a college education. For them, 56.2 percent of operators and 60.6 percent of spouses had a 

Jason P. Brown and Jeremy G. Weber

The Off-Farm Occupations of U.S. Farm 

Operators and Their Spouses
www.ers.usda.gov

professional and management occupation. The same was true for only 16.9 percent of operators and 

20.5 percent of spouses who worked off farm but who only had a high school education. Operators 

with only a high school education were most likely to have an occupation in production, transportation, and materials moving (32.3 percent), while spouses were most likely to work in services (45.3 

percent).

• Regarding the industry of off-farm employment, farm operators primarily worked in the construction 

(18.7 percent); agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, or mining (15.3 percent); or manufacturing (12.9 

percent) industries, while their spouses most often worked in education (22.3 percent) or healthcare 

(19.7 percent). Operators of farms with less than $50,000 in annual sales had higher shares of jobs in 

the manufacturing and construction industries, while operators of larger farms (with higher annual 

sales) had the highest shares in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, or mining industry. 

According to the literature on the U.S. labor market, the gap between wages for skilled and unskilled 

labor in the United States has widened, particularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Combined 

with this growing disparity, evidence of higher skills among farm households, especially those with 

larger farms, provides one explanation for their relatively higher income growth in the last 15 years.

How Was the Study Conducted?

Farm-level information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2010 Agricultural Resource 

Management Survey (ARMS) was used to examine the occupation and industry of the off-farm jobs 

held by farm operators and their spouses who reported having off-farm labor income. The 2010 ARMS 

is the first year in which both the off-farm occupation and the industry type of the off-farm job has 

been asked of farm operators and spouses. Farm and household characteristics reported on the ARMS 

allow for comparisons across farm types, education levels, and age. This study also makes comparisons 

to national occupational data of nonfarm industries provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Share of workers in off-farm management and professional occupations, 2010

Percent with management and professional occupations

Note: The subsample of farms includes only family farm households with married couples where the operator or

spouse works off farm. Occupation by farm size refers to the occupation of the farm operator.

Sources: USDA, Economic Research Service using the 2010 Occupational Employment Statistics of the Bureau of 

Labor Statistics for area-wide occupations and USDA's 2010 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, Version 1 

for farm household member occupations.

Nonmetropolitan

workers

Metropolitan 

workers

Farm operators

and spouses - 

all farms

Farms with less 

than $50,000

in sales

Farms with 

$50,000 - 

$249,999

in sales

Farms with 

$250,000 or more 

in sales

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50