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Abstract
Traditionally, the economic well-being of households is gauged by indicators of the financial resources
available–— household income and, when available, wealth. ERS publishes estimates of farm household income
and wealth based on responses to USDA’s annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). Since
1998, average farm operator household income has exceeded that of the typical U.S. household by 3 to 21
percent, and median farm household wealth has been 4-5 times that of all U.S. households. But the variability
of income complicates farm-nonfarm comparisons.