This paper analyses the economic aspects of the Rio Pardo society, identified through economic sectors and elements of local wealth. Sources are a series of 401 of post-mortem inventory processes. It was basically an agrarian economy characterized by slave system and non-capitalist production relations. The main economic activities were agriculture and cattle ranching. The diversification of activities came from artisans and merchants. The paper studies local, provincial, regional, and national circumstances, in the context of the Empire of Brazil, which help to understand the shaping of local economy. Changes in these factors, though, did not lead to deep structural transformations in the economy of the period. Keywords: slave system; livestock; agriculture; credit transactions.