Fulton County, Ohio

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 15.5 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: Manufacturing employs 5,334 workers (44.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $72,026.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $102,120 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $17,347, a 5.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Primary Metal Manufacturing concentrates at 22.52x 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.
• Attraction whitespace: 8 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.6x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 80.2% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Broadly affordable rents: All 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,822/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 24.6% 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 39,395 annual credentials.

Fulton County shows strong potential for primary metal manufacturing attraction, with a 22.52x concentration and 936 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across primary metal manufacturing, fabricated metal product manufacturing, and food manufacturing creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.