Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 7.0 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Young population: Median age of 35 is materially below the U.S. norm, a workforce pipeline asset.

• Largest sector: Manufacturing employs 1,346 workers (33.7% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $62,785.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $989M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting averages $134,025 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $33,361, a 4.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Fishing, Hunting and Trapping concentrates at 120.41x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 6 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.
• Attraction whitespace: 7 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 4.8x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Elevated vacancy: 20.7% vacancy rate. In resort, rural, and seasonal markets much of this is recreational/seasonal (second homes), not available supply; confirm the vacancy-by-reason split before treating it as a redevelopment opportunity.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$2,156/mo).

• Strong participation: 75.4% labor force participation among working-age residents indicates an engaged, available workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 4,409 annual credentials.

Kodiak Island Borough shows strong potential for fishing, hunting and trapping attraction, with a 120.41x concentration and 33 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The interconnected base across fishing, hunting and trapping, food manufacturing, and air transportation creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.