Zapata 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 38.4%, 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 20.5 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Young population: Median age of 32 is materially below the U.S. norm, a workforce pipeline asset.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 821 workers (61% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $20,488.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $668M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $58,219 while Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting averages $18,792, a 3.1x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Ambulatory Health Care Services concentrates at 4.03x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 4 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.

• 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: 72% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 27% 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 (~$981/mo).

• Low participation: 55.9% 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.

Zapata County shows meaningful potential for ambulatory health care services attraction, with a 4.03x concentration and 689 jobs in this sub-sector.

The interconnected base across ambulatory health care services, gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and credit intermediation and related activities creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.