Switzerland County, Indiana

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 26.8 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: Retail Trade employs 136 workers (70.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $23,336.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $329M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Transportation and Warehousing averages $55,087 while Retail Trade averages $23,336, a 2.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 9.82x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Attraction whitespace: 3 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 78.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 13% 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 (~$1,634/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 25.3% 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.

Switzerland County shows strong potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 9.82x concentration and 41 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.