Upson County, Georgia

• 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 $21,924 (28.3%) under the Georgia median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 3.7% below the national average, so the nominal median of $55,429 is worth $57,559 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 19.3%, 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 20.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 1,016 workers (25.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $30,721. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,482 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $976M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $78,971 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $19,121, a 4.1x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Textile Mills concentrates at 71.73x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 33.2% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. 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 3.0x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.8% of housing units are vacant, above the Georgia rate of 10.3%, and down from 16.5% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 81.8% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 2.7%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 10.5% of the vacant stock, or 1.6% of all housing units against the 14.8% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $27,311 can pay without cost burden (~$683/mo), and 45.6% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 30.1% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 24% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 54.7% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 12.6% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Upson County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Upson County shows strong potential for textile mills attraction, with a 71.73x concentration and 252 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans textile mills, wood product manufacturing, and repair and maintenance, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 33.2% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.