Mille Lacs County, Minnesota

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 17.5 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 1,155 workers (29.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $30,095.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $73,108 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $16,746, a 4.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers concentrates at 3.98x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 6 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 3.6x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 77.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 18.3% 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: 4 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,818/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 25.7% 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 41,393 annual credentials.

Mille Lacs County shows meaningful potential for gasoline stations and fuel dealers attraction, with a 3.98x concentration and 254 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across gasoline stations and fuel dealers, nursing and residential care facilities, and transit and ground passenger transportation creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.