Pender County, North Carolina

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 5.1 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 2,238 workers (20.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $32,055.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $78,861 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $18,958, a 4.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 4.62x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• 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: 7 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 3.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 82.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 20.6% 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 (~$2,010/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 23.8% 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 28,942 annual credentials.

Pender County shows meaningful potential for crop production attraction, with a 4.62x concentration and 252 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across crop production, rental and leasing services, and animal production and aquaculture creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.