Charles City County, Virginia

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 18.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 53 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Transportation and Warehousing employs 496 workers (37.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $53,521.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $358M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $109,967 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $30,033, a 3.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 10.84x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 4 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 3.2x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 86.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 11% 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 (~$1,885/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 33.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.6% 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 45,868 annual credentials.

Charles City County shows strong potential for crop production attraction, with a 10.84x concentration and 76 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 33.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across crop production, specialty trade contractors, and truck transportation creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.