Pima County, Arizona

• 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 $9,649 (12.1%) under the Arizona median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 3.1% below the national average, so the nominal median of $70,315 is worth $72,564 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.3%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 66,602 workers (24.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $61,292. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 72,276 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $66.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $113,978 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $29,915, a 3.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Mining (except Oil and Gas) concentrates at 5.50x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 4 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 42.7% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 7 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 4.5x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Affordable rent tiers: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $45,489 can pay without cost burden (~$1,137/mo), and 49.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Low participation: 58% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 4.7% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 13 institutions in Pima County award 18,119 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Pima County shows strong potential for mining (except oil and gas) attraction, with a 5.50x concentration and 2,444 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The concentrated base spans mining (except oil and gas), warehousing and storage, and accommodation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 42.7% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.