About 40 percent of U.S. farmers worked 200 or more days off the farm in 2022 according to the USDA’s Census of Agriculture.
The majority, 93 percent, of the 3,078 U.S. counties for which data was reported had at least 30 percent of producers working 200 or more days off the farm. Further, 83 counties (2.7 percent) had at least 50 percent of producers working off-farm for 200 days or more.
For farms with at least two producers, 41 percent of those worked off-farm for 200 days or more. In comparison, 35 percent of producers on farms with only one producer did so.
Off-farm work is a significant source of income for most farm households and can additionally provide health and retirement benefits. Agricultural Resource Management Survey data says over half of family farms weren’t profitable in 2022, and 84 percent of farms earned at least half their income off the farm.