Johnson 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 $20,862 (25.0%) under the Illinois median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Elevated poverty: At 17.6%, 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 16.1 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 178 workers (42.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $46,814. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,301 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $329M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $68,586 while Retail Trade averages $27,861, a 2.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers concentrates at 5.57x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 5 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 27.1% of the employment across them, the largest being finance and insurance. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.6x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 82% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 26% of housing units are vacant, above the Illinois rate of 7.7%, and up from 23.5% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 54.5% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 7.4% of the vacant stock, or 1.9% of all housing units against the 26% 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 $33,950 can pay without cost burden (~$849/mo), and 34.6% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 42% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 17.1% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Johnson County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Johnson County shows strong potential for gasoline stations and fuel dealers attraction, with a 5.57x concentration and 50 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans gasoline stations and fuel dealers, merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods, and credit intermediation and related activities, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 27.1% of the employment across them, the largest being finance and insurance. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.