Sanders County, Montana

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 15.4%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 14.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 55 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 501 workers (21.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $50,608.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $552M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $86,769 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $26,976, a 3.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Forestry and Logging concentrates at 30.33x 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 6.2x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 81.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 19.9% 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 (~$1,437/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 33% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 43.2% 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 7,525 annual credentials.

Sanders County shows strong potential for forestry and logging attraction, with a 30.33x concentration and 30 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 33% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across forestry and logging, wood product manufacturing, and mining (except oil and gas) creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.