Etowah County, Alabama

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $9,436 (14.7%) under the Alabama median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 14.3% below the national average, so the nominal median of $54,563 is worth $63,667 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 16.9%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 17.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 6,994 workers (26.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $56,095. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 5,054 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $68,074 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,496, a 3.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Food Manufacturing concentrates at 4.86x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, but 52.8% of the employment across them depends on one source of demand: health care economy. Read the count as depth within that single demand base rather than as spread across separate ones.
• Attraction whitespace: 4 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 73.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 17.2% of housing units are vacant, above the Alabama rate of 14.5%, and down from 18.4% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 69.9% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 5.6%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 14.1% of the vacant stock, or 2.4% of all housing units against the 17.2% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Affordable rent tiers: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $33,846 can pay without cost burden (~$846/mo), and 41.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 55.2% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 1.7% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Etowah County awards 1,522 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Etowah County shows meaningful potential for food manufacturing attraction, with a 4.86x concentration and 1,812 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

Most of the employment across the concentrated sub-sectors traces back to a single source of demand. Health care economy accounts for 52.8% of it, with ambulatory health care services the largest single sub-sector at 24.5%. Recruitment that widens the demand base changes that exposure; recruitment inside the same base deepens it.