Grand County, Colorado

• Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 7.0 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
• Aging population: Median age of 45 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Accommodation and Food Services employs 1,982 workers (32.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $38,540.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $133,235 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $38,540, a 3.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries concentrates at 11.19x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.
• Attraction whitespace: 8 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 6.8x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 73.4% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 57.1% 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: 4 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$2,215/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 26% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 25,233 annual credentials.

Grand County shows strong potential for amusement, gambling, and recreation industries attraction, with a 11.19x concentration and 1,124 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, accommodation, and beverage and tobacco product manufacturing creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.