Monroe County, Illinois

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 4.9% below the national average, so the nominal median of $102,880 is worth $108,181 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• 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: Retail Trade employs 1,241 workers (19.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $36,255. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,325 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.3B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $85,504 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $21,486, a 4.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Personal and Laundry Services concentrates at 3.23x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.6% 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 2.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 84.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $42,560 can pay without cost burden (~$1,064/mo), and 44.1% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 26.1% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 68.3% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Monroe County award 66 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Monroe County shows meaningful potential for personal and laundry services attraction, with a 3.23x concentration and 271 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.1% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans personal and laundry services, heavy and civil engineering construction, and credit intermediation and related activities, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.6% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.