Clarke County, Virginia

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Aging population: Median age of 48 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Manufacturing employs 587 workers (20.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $56,352.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $612M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $107,134 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $25,284, a 4.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 9.90x 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: 4 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 4.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 81.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 10.1% 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 (~$2,928/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 29.7% 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 45,868 annual credentials.

Clarke County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 9.90x concentration and 71 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 29.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across animal production and aquaculture, heavy and civil engineering construction, and gasoline stations and fuel dealers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.