Based on the heterogeneity of local off-farm employment and out-of-village employment,this paper constructs the theoretical analysis framework of the effect of off-farm employment on farmers’ income gap,and uses the China family panel studies data (CFPS) to test the influence of local off-farm employment and out-of-village employment on farmers’ income disparity. The result shows that the reallocation of the family economic structure enables poor farmers to participate in nonagricultural employment,so that outofvillage employment has a significant mitigation effect on the income gap of farmers,while the high selectivity of local offfarm activities leads to significant stimulating effect on the income gap of farmers for local offfarm employment. Therefore,this paper points out that social interaction costs of farmers can be reduced through smoothing the channels of social communication,farmers are encouraged to go out to work in order to accumulate material capital,accessibility of local nonagricultural employment opportunities should be ensured so as to inhibit the expansion of income gap among farmers.