Rusk County, Texas

• Elevated poverty: At 14.4%, 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 18.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 1,737 workers (18.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $39,310.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $140,457 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $22,081, a 6.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Support Activities for Mining concentrates at 27.94x 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 2.5x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 78.8% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 15.4% 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 (~$1,716/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Low participation: 54.9% 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.

Rusk County shows strong potential for support activities for mining attraction, with a 27.94x concentration and 637 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The interconnected base across support activities for mining, forestry and logging, and wood product manufacturing creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.