Polk County, Wisconsin

• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 11.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• 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 3,527 workers (29.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $62,032.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $83,871 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $18,343, a 4.6x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing concentrates at 8.63x 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 3.5x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 81% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 20.4% 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.
• Broadly affordable rents: All 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,930/mo), a clear cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 29.2% 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 27,191 annual credentials.

Polk County shows strong potential for plastics and rubber products manufacturing attraction, with a 8.63x concentration and 607 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 29.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

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