Highlands County, Florida

• 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 $19,671 (26.4%) under the Florida median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 7.5% below the national average, so the nominal median of $54,897 is worth $59,348 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 15.3%, 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 15.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 54 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 6,506 workers (30.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $62,018. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 4,400 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $3.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $66,846 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $22,986, a 2.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry concentrates at 8.35x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 11 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 35.4% 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.4x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 78.6% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 20% of housing units are vacant, above the Florida rate of 14.7%, and down from 25.2% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 69.4% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 8.2% of the vacant stock, or 1.6% of all housing units against the 20% 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: 1 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $35,573 can pay without cost burden (~$889/mo), and 49.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 28% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 43.6% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 6.1% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Highlands County award 629 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Highlands County shows strong potential for support activities for agriculture and forestry attraction, with a 8.35x concentration and 600 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 28% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans support activities for agriculture and forestry, crop production, and motor vehicle and parts dealers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 35.4% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.