Farmworkers in the United States have unique demographics, wages, working conditions, organizing, and environmental aspects. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the U.S. in 2019 and approximately 1.4 to 2.1 million hired crop workers are employed annually on crop farms in the U.S. In 2025, the Department of Agriculture found the average age among farmworkers to be 39.6 years old, the average wage to be $17.23 per hour, and the average number of hours worked to be 40.8 per week.
The types of farmworkers include field crop workers, nursery workers, greenhouse workers, supervisors, etc. The Department of Labor findings for the years 2019–2020 report that 63% of crop workers were born in Mexico, 30% in the mainland United States or Puerto Rico, 5% in Central America, and 2 percent in other regions. The amount of farm labor in the United States has changed substantially: in 1870, almost 50 percent of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture;Agricultural employment: has the decline ended? , Retrieved May 6, 2016 , less than 1% of the population was directly employed in agriculture.
Potential health and safety issues that may be associated with farm work include vehicle rollovers, falls, musculoskeletal injuries, hazardous equipment, grain bins, pesticides, unsanitary conditions, and respiratory disease. According to the United States Department Of Labor, farmworkers are at risk of work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, and certain cancers related to chemical use. Farm workers also suffer disproportionately from heat stress, with fewer than average seeking treatment. While some progress has been made, many farmworkers continue to struggle for fair pay, proper training, and safe working conditions.
Farm structure The development of a particular kind of agriculture is dependent on the characteristics of the farming region. The soil type, climate, slope, and distance to markets all help in shaping the type of agriculture that thrives in any particular region. For instance, the Midwestern United States has rich, fertile soil, and so it produces corn, soybeans, cattle, hogs, and dairy products and has become known as the Corn Belt of America.USDA Agricultural Fact Book '98: Chapter 2, In contrast, agriculture in California's Mediterranean and moderate climate produces more than half of the nation's fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which require hand-harvesting and a large labor force.A Look at California Agriculture. http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/california.pdf
Over the last century the amount of farmland in production has remained relatively steady, but the number of operating farms has continually dropped, signifying a consolidation of farm enterprises. Around the 1930s hard economic times hit the country with the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era, forcing some farmers off the land. From 1950 to 2001 the amount of U.S. farm land used for major agricultural crop production has remained about the same while over half of the farms are gone. A farm's reliance on farmworkers greatly depends on the quantity and the type of crop in production. Some crops require more labor than others, and in California, many labor-intensive crops are produced such as dairy products, fruits, tree nuts and vegetables. Although the domestic farm labor force has decreased in the last century, the proportion of hired workers has grown. Increased competition among agricultural producers and consolidation have created a need for a large, inexpensive, and temporary workforce that increasingly comes from abroad.
Demographics
According to the National Center for Farmworker Health in 2012, there were an estimated 3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States. Migrant farmworkers are considered to be temporary workers who move to an area for work, cultivating a crop during the harvest season. Seasonal farm workers, however, live in an area from year to year. The states with the highest percentage of both migrant and seasonal farm workers include; California, Florida, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington. The Agricultural Resource Management Survey conducted by the USDA found that one third of the farm worker population is between the ages of 35–54 years old with an average age of 33.
The Department of Labor and Statistics discovered that the median pay is averaged to be $40,260 a year and $19.53 per hour in 2023 for farmworkers. According to the 2021-2022 National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), 42.03% of U.S. crop workers are legally unauthorized to work. The majority were born in Mexico (60.65%) and 31.57% were born in the U.S. Since 1991 to 2001, the general trend is an overall increase in the number of foreign born, unauthorized farm workers. The U.S. Department of Labor has reported in the National Agricultural Workers Survey that the number of foreign born, unauthorized farm workers has plateaued and kept steady over the past decade around 50%. In 2014, 40% of foreign-born farmworkers had been in the US for over 20 years and 35% had been in the US for 10 to 19 years. In 2022, two-thirds of U.S. agricultural workers were noncitizen immigrants.
In 2009, about 519,000 people under age 20 worked on farms owned by their family. In addition to the youth who lived on family farms, an additional 230,000 youth were employed in agriculture.Youth in Agriculture , OHSA, accessed January 21, 2014 In 2004, women made up approximately 24% of farmers; that year, there were 580,000 women employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
An ongoing issue across the country is the young children who work in the agriculture fields. According to a report conducted by the Human Rights Watch, there was a notice in labor protections towards children who work in agriculture and the children who work in other industries, which was that the children who work in agriculture don't receive the same protection and benefits to those in other workplace in the United States. When it comes to working in the fields, children as young as twelve years old are legally allowed to work as long as they have their parent's consent. On the other hand, in other industries, children aren't even allowed to work until they've turned 14, or at the age of 16 depending on the labor regulation and the location they're located in. Due to the fewer protection a children receives on the field camp, is what leaves them along with their parents or other adults in a position where they are constantly vulnerable to being exploited and in unsafe working conditions.
The effect in which the young agricultural workers have doesn't just stop in the fields, it goes well beyond into their education. Often times, these children are required to work on their school days off, whether it is a weekend or a holiday. A recurring result caught by the Human Rights Watch was children farmworkers often time have hard times obtaining concepts taught in classrooms and are likely to dropout more. In several interview conductions they done, a common thing the students experienced was them having to migrate to another state for seasonal farmworker, causing them to leave their school before that academic school year ended. At such young age, these farmworkers are forced to balance both education and work. The reasonings for having to work is what creates educational inequalities for these young agricultural workers.
In the interview Human Rights Watch conducted, the children spoke out on the physical and economic pressures that drove them to work in the fields. These elementary and middle school age kids had to endure long hours under the scorching hot sun, heavy lifting, and other severe conditions. A twelve year old in North Carolina explained that after working for five to six hours, the earning for those hours turned out to be only about eighteen dollars, low pay. A parent's economic struggle is another reason for why most children are required to work, to help contribute and pay the bills. Despite the economic pressures to work, these children are at risk to any kind of injury, whether chronic pain or injury from machinery.
Substantial demographic change among farmworkers has occurred since the mid-20th Century. In 1870, almost 50 percent of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture. In 1954, there were 2.73 million hired agricultural workers in the US The 61 percent reduction in farmworker numbers between then and 2012 occurred despite an agricultural output increase of about 140 percent, serving a population that increased by 93 percent over that period. Whereas 74.7 percent of hired farmworkers were seasonal in 1954, 74 percent were year-round employees in 2012.
African American Farmworkers
African American farmworkers played a huge role in the farm work done as early as 1865 and well into the 1960s. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, finding and owning land has been a constant struggle for many African American farmers. One of the first opportunities for financial freedom and stability after being emancipated for former slaves was going into farmwork using the knowledge they had.
Wages According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average wage rate for US [hired] agricultural field and livestock workers in 2014 was $11.29 per hour. This figure does not include the average value of perquisites, such as cash bonuses, housing or meals that are provided to some agricultural workers.United States Department of Agriculture. Farm Labor. (Released 20 November 2014). https://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/FarmLabo/FarmLabo-11-20-2014.pdf The average exceeded the median.
For 2014, the median hourly wages of $9.17 for "Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse" and $11.02 for "Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals" can be compared with the median for all US occupations of $17.09, and with the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. In 2014, of US private sector workers paid hourly wages, the fraction paid less than minimum wage was 1.3 percent of workers in "agriculture and related industries", versus 2.5 percent of those in "nonagricultural industries".US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2014.
In 2014, for US "Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery and Greenhouse", the median annual wage was $19,060. The 10th and 90th percentiles were $17,280 and $27,890, respectively. For "Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch and Aquacultural Animals" the median annual wage was $22,930. The 10th and 90th percentiles were $17,080 and $37,360, respectively. These figures can be compared with some of the poverty thresholds for 2014 published by the US Census Bureau: single person under 65: $12,316; two people (householder under 65): $15,835; same, but with one child under 18: $16,317.
Working conditions and workplace issues For most agricultural workers, much work is outdoors and may involve extremes of weather. Crop harvesting may require bending and crouching. Because machinery and animals can cause injury, workers must take precautions and be alert. Although crop workers may risk exposure to pesticides, exposure can be minimal if appropriate safety precautions are followed.