Austin County, Texas

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 10.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 2,112 workers (20.5% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $49,939.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Transportation and Warehousing averages $108,703 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $25,290, a 4.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing concentrates at 10.73x 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.9x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 76.5% 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.
• Broadly affordable rents: All 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,895/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 24.5% 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 48,998 annual credentials.

Austin County shows strong potential for nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing attraction, with a 10.73x concentration and 386 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.5% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, , and chemical manufacturing creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.