Sullivan County, Missouri

• 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 20.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 44 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 148 workers (43.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $27,798.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $619M (2024).

• Top specialization: concentrates at 3.95x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 3 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.0x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 75.1% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 32.2% 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 (~$1,424/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 26.5% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 58.2% labor force participation suggests untapped capacity; workforce development programs may unlock supply.
• Short commutes: 19.6-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 21,457 annual credentials.

Sullivan County shows meaningful potential for attraction, with a 3.95x concentration and 1,324 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.5% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across , gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and building material and garden supply retailers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.