Edwards County, Illinois

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 16.5%, 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 21.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 45 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Wholesale Trade employs 151 workers (36.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $63,737.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $321M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $63,737 while Retail Trade averages $25,346, a 2.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods concentrates at 4.99x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 3 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 1.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 79.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.4% 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 (~$1,513/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 25.7% 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 37,237 annual credentials.

Edwards County shows meaningful potential for merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods attraction, with a 4.99x concentration and 119 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods, , and repair and maintenance creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.