LaGrange County, Indiana

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 24.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Young population: Median age of 33 is materially below the U.S. norm, a workforce pipeline asset.

• Largest sector: Manufacturing employs 6,746 workers (56.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $67,324.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $116,683 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $19,655, a 5.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 27.72x 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.0x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 83% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.9% 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 (~$2,112/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Short commutes: 21.8-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 59,581 annual credentials.

LaGrange County shows strong potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 27.72x concentration and 1,047 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The interconnected base across wood product manufacturing, furniture and related product manufacturing, and leather and allied product manufacturing creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.