Jackson County, Florida

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 19.5%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 20.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 1,966 workers (23.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $34,424.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $99,095 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $23,214, a 4.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Forestry and Logging concentrates at 13.68x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.
• Attraction whitespace: 5 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.5x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 75.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.2% 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 (~$1,229/mo).

• Low participation: 45.6% 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 56,676 annual credentials.

Jackson County shows strong potential for forestry and logging attraction, with a 13.68x concentration and 58 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The interconnected base across forestry and logging, wood product manufacturing, and utilities creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.