Washington County, Illinois

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $5,166 (6.2%) under the Illinois median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 12.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 44 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Wholesale Trade employs 749 workers (30.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $68,041. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 784 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.3B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $74,797 while Educational Services averages $11,476, a 6.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods concentrates at 5.81x 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 43.1% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.0x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 84.1% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $49,338 can pay without cost burden (~$1,233/mo), and 21.8% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 26.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 63.3% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Washington County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Washington County shows strong potential for merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods attraction, with a 5.81x concentration and 520 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods, building material and garden supply retailers, and crop production, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 43.1% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.