Delta County, Colorado

• 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 $37,696 (39.5%) under the Colorado median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 3.1% above the national average, so the nominal median of $57,774 is worth $56,037 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 9.1 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 48 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 1,216 workers (21.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $38,611. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,683 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $89,470 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $22,521, a 4.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 10.37x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 15 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 33% 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 5.9x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 77.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 13.8% of housing units are vacant, above the Colorado rate of 8.3%, and down from 19.9% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 36.6% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 14.1% of the vacant stock, or 1.9% of all housing units against the 13.8% 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 $40,842 can pay without cost burden (~$1,021/mo), and 50.9% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 27.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 49.2% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 10.2% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.

Delta County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 10.37x concentration and 129 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 27.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans animal production and aquaculture, wood product manufacturing, and crop production, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 33% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.