Kennebec County, Maine

• Aging population: Median age of 44 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 10,271 workers (28.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $65,966.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $8.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Management of Companies and Enterprises averages $91,191 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $28,755, a 3.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Textile Mills concentrates at 5.34x 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: 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 3.4x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 73.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.5% 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 (~$1,727/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 25.2% 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 5,859 annual credentials.

Kennebec County shows strong potential for textile mills attraction, with a 5.34x concentration and 173 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across textile mills, forestry and logging, and telecommunications creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.