Custer County, Colorado

• Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 8.0 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
• Aging population: Median age of 58 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Accommodation and Food Services employs 171 workers (29.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $20,806.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $227M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $133,011 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $16,478, a 8.1x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Accommodation concentrates at 6.96x 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 5.4x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 85.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 42.3% 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.
• Broadly affordable rents: All 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,817/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 40.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 46.7% labor force participation suggests untapped capacity; workforce development programs may unlock supply.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 25,233 annual credentials.

Custer County shows strong potential for accommodation attraction, with a 6.96x concentration and 88 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 40.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across accommodation, gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and wood product manufacturing creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.