UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1466 
Washington, D, C. 
November, 1926 
THE FARMER'S STANDARD OF LIVING 
A Socio-Economic Study of 2886 White Farm Families of Selected Localities in 11 States 
By E. L. Kiekpatrick, Associate Agricultural Economist, Division of Farm 
Population and Rural Life, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Definition of standard of living 1 
Explanation of study 4 
Scope 4 
Localities studied 6 
Composition of families and 
households 8 
Adequacy of the family as a 
unit of comparison 8 
Classification of goods used 10 
Values of goods used 13 
Total value of all goods 13 
Distribution of the value of 
goods according to uses 15 
Distribution of the average 
value of goods by total value 
groups . 26 
Comparisons for different groups of 
families 30 
Owners, tenants, and hired men 
of this study 30 
Farm families of this study 
with farm families of other 
studies 31 
Page 
Comparisons for different groups of 
families — Continued. 
Farm families with working- 
men's families 33 
Relation of selected factors to stand- 
ard of living 35 
Factors regarded as influencing 
the desires and demands of 
the family 36 
Factors involving the use of 
time as an aspect of the 
standard of living 47 
Factors indicative of family's 
ability to provide economic 
goods of family living 52 
Inferences with regard to speci- 
fied factors 59 
Use of average values of goods in 
planning for more rational family 
living in the farm home 61 
DEFINITION OF STANDARD OF LIVING 
The " farmer's standard of living " is referred to again and again 
by leaders who are looking for solutions to the problems of agri- 
culture. The question, Does the farmer receive an adequate wage? 
is being rephrased in terms of the standard of living which the farm 
family procures by virtue of the occupation pursued. This question 
involves a number of other questions, such as, What level of living 
does the farm family enjoy? What part of the family living is fur- 
nished by the farm ? How are the values of all the economic goods of 
the farm family's living distributed among the principal groups of 
goods used ? and How do the levels of family living vary for families* 
of different localities, different tenures, and different trades or occu- 
pations? 
13102°— 26 1 i 
