Orleans County, Vermont

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 5.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 46 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 1,554 workers (21.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $65,441.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $88,495 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $29,837, a 3.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 10.96x 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: 5 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 3.2x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 79.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 27.9% 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: 4 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,753/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 25.6% 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 5,964 annual credentials.

Orleans County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 10.96x concentration and 196 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across animal production and aquaculture, wood product manufacturing, and accommodation creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.