Shelby County, Indiana

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 13.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Manufacturing employs 4,948 workers (38.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $77,518.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $77,518 while Other Services (except Public Administration) averages $35,136, a 2.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing concentrates at 24.64x 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.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.9x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 72.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,805/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 24.3% 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 59,581 annual credentials.

Shelby County shows strong potential for nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing attraction, with a 24.64x concentration and 1,238 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, plastics and rubber products manufacturing, and mining (except oil and gas) creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.