A Comparison of Farm and Nonfarm Households

This study compares the economic well-being of farm and nonfarm households using data from the 2001 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and the 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances. Comparisons are made in terms of income and wealth using Tukey-Kramer mean separation tests, regression analysis, and Gini coefficients. The results show that income and wealth of rural residence and intermediate farms are comparable to those of nonfarm households without businesses, while the well-being of commercial farms is similar to that of nonfarm households with businesses. Income and wealth vary across life-cycle stages, with a less pronounced cycle for the income of commercial farms.