Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 5.4% above the national average, so the nominal median of $94,031 is worth $89,213 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 11.3 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 5,769 workers (26.5% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $62,056. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 5,473 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $4.5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $100,878 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $27,030, a 3.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Postal Service concentrates at 32.62x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 16 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 32.3% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 3 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 3.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 77.2% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 22.1% of housing units are vacant, above the Alaska rate of 17.6%, and down from 25.3% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 72.7% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 5.1% of the vacant stock, or 1.1% of all housing units against the 22.1% 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 $52,324 can pay without cost burden (~$1,308/mo), and 48.6% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Healthy participation: 60.3% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Matanuska-Susitna Borough awards 6 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Matanuska-Susitna Borough shows strong potential for postal service attraction, with a 32.62x concentration and 44 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The concentrated base spans postal service, scenic and sightseeing transportation, and construction of buildings, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 32.3% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.