Le Flore 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 19.4%, 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 20.3 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 1,495 workers (25.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $33,126.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Transportation and Warehousing averages $75,985 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $17,770, a 4.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Mining (except Oil and Gas) concentrates at 10.98x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 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: 72.8% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 15.3% 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: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,289/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 22.3% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 53.5% 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.

Le Flore County shows strong potential for mining (except oil and gas) attraction, with a 10.98x concentration and 159 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across mining (except oil and gas), nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, and building material and garden supply retailers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.