Cherokee County, Oklahoma

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 18.2%, 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 6.5 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 1,689 workers (25.7% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $32,804.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.9B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $66,441 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $19,162, a 3.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 7.58x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 5 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.2x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Elevated vacancy: 16.4% 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 (~$1,330/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Low participation: 58.4% 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 16,669 annual credentials.

Cherokee County shows strong potential for crop production attraction, with a 7.58x concentration and 480 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

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