Jim Hogg County, Texas

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 31.4%, 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 20.9 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Young population: Median age of 26 is materially below the U.S. norm, a workforce pipeline asset.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 438 workers (51.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $22,675.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $216M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction averages $204,891 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $15,555, a 13.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 19.60x 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Elevated vacancy: 31.7% 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 (~$1,055/mo).

• Low participation: 59.9% 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 48,998 annual credentials.

Jim Hogg County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 19.60x concentration and 57 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The interconnected base across animal production and aquaculture, repair and maintenance, and motor vehicle and parts dealers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.