Klickitat County, Washington

• Aging population: Median age of 47 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Manufacturing employs 1,021 workers (28.6% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $84,642.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.3B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $91,064 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $26,512, a 3.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 22.90x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 6.0x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 76.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 4 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,776/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 26.3% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 53.7% 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 28,545 annual credentials.

Klickitat County shows strong potential for crop production attraction, with a 22.90x concentration and 552 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across crop production, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, and waste management and remediation services creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.