Owen 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 $9,493 (13.2%) under the Indiana median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 4.9% below the national average, so the nominal median of $62,464 is worth $65,682 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 18.9 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 45 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 2,473 workers (58.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $71,200. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 748 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $760M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $107,150 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $19,345, a 5.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 11.76x 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 36.4% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.8x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 81.4% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 13.1% of housing units are vacant, above the Indiana rate of 8.8%, and down from 13.8% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 65.2% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 19.1%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 15.1% of the vacant stock, or 2% of all housing units against the 13.1% 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: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $38,798 can pay without cost burden (~$970/mo), and 29.8% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 27.6% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.8% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 3% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Owen County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Owen County shows strong potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 11.76x concentration and 167 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 27.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans wood product manufacturing, utilities, and nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 36.4% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.