McLean County, North Dakota

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 9.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 48 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 327 workers (19% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $53,167.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $142,356 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $19,699, a 7.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Utilities concentrates at 18.97x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 7 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.
• Attraction whitespace: 4 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 84.2% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 24.6% 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 (~$2,090/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 28.6% 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 7,742 annual credentials.

McLean County shows strong potential for utilities attraction, with a 18.97x concentration and 259 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 28.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across utilities, merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods, and crop production creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.