The study investigated the economic situation of farms sized 2–8 ESU and the level of incomes achieved by farmers’ families in the years 2005–2009, using the agricultural accountancy data from the Polish FADN and the data from the IAFE-NRI survey on the off-farm incomes of farmers’ families. The research sample comprised private farms located in the Mazowsze and Podlasie agricultural region (one of the four FADN regions in Poland). Two groups of farms were studied. The first group (A) was composed of farms owned by families which received income from farm and off-farm sources (e.g. from employment or pensions), the second group (B) included farms run by families which had income only from their farms. The study aimed at assessing the ability of farms to function in the long term, and outlining the current and future socio-professional situation of the families. The results were expressed as averages of 2005–2009, and some of them were additionally shown for individual years of this period. Horizontal and vertical analyses were performed to compare the effects of farming and the incomes of families between farm groups and study years. Considering the average of 2005–2009, families with no additional sources of income obtained an almost 16% higher income from farming than those from the other group. The latter, however, had a higher financial status as they received income from non-agricultural sources which clearly exceeded the one from farms. The results showed that most of the farms under study may go bankrupt. This can be inferred e.g. from the fact that only a small proportion of farms (12.3% in group A and 6.9% in group B) reproduced fixed assets used in the production process. The higher degree of fixed assets’ reproduction in group A probably resulted from the allocation of a part of the off-farm income for investment. It is expected that the users of most of the farms sized 2–8 ESU will be forced in the future to abandon agriculture and look for new activities and other sources of income.