Leelanau County, Michigan

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 16.1 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
• Aging population: Median age of 56 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Accommodation and Food Services employs 990 workers (23% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $35,634.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.1B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Health Care and Social Assistance averages $77,252 while Retail Trade averages $31,811, a 2.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing concentrates at 17.92x 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: 6 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 4.6x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 91.6% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 38.8% 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 (~$2,486/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 33.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 51.9% labor force participation suggests untapped capacity; workforce development programs may unlock supply.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 35,780 annual credentials.

Leelanau County shows strong potential for beverage and tobacco product manufacturing attraction, with a 17.92x concentration and 278 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 33.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, crop production, and museums, historical sites, and similar creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.