Madison County, Indiana

• 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 $8,920 (12.4%) under the Indiana median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 4.3% below the national average, so the nominal median of $63,037 is worth $65,869 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 15.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 6,841 workers (22.6% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $56,427. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 6,323 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $5.5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $79,167 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,984, a 3.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Food Manufacturing concentrates at 4.06x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 40.4% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 5 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• 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: 70.2% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 1 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $36,650 can pay without cost burden (~$916/mo), and 45.1% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.1% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 60.1% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Madison County award 495 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Madison County shows meaningful potential for food manufacturing attraction, with a 4.06x concentration and 1,840 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.1% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans food manufacturing, furniture and related product manufacturing, and transportation equipment manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 40.4% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.