Franklin County, Illinois

• 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 $26,650 (32.0%) under the Illinois median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Elevated poverty: At 17.5%, 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 19.9 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 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 1,376 workers (23.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $50,060. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,991 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $60,249 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $14,166, a 4.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Electrical Equipment, Appliance Manufacturing concentrates at 4.45x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 32.5% 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.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 1.6x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 74.1% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.6% of housing units are vacant, above the Illinois rate of 7.7%, and down from 13% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 61.9% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 16%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 19.4% of the vacant stock, or 2.4% of all housing units against the 12.6% 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 $28,790 can pay without cost burden (~$720/mo), and 43% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 24.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 1% between 2019 and 2024, from 17,084 to 16,913.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Franklin County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Franklin County shows meaningful potential for electrical equipment, appliance manufacturing attraction, with a 4.45x concentration and 100 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans electrical equipment, appliance manufacturing, gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and social assistance, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 32.5% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.