Trimble County, Kentucky

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 9.8% below the national average, so the nominal median of $66,027 is worth $73,201 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 18.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• 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: Construction employs 81 workers (20.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $62,695. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 329 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $736M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $95,452 while Retail Trade averages $25,897, a 3.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers concentrates at 4.95x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.

• 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: 79.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.8% of housing units are vacant, above the Kentucky rate of 10.3%, and up from 12.4% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 34.9% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 15.3% of the vacant stock, or 2% of all housing units against the 12.8% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Broadly affordable rents: All 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes shown above sit below what a household on the median renter income of $59,828 can pay without cost burden (~$1,496/mo), and 25.7% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened; a cost-of-living advantage for workforce attraction.

• Succession risk is real: 26.6% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 57.8% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 3.3% between 2019 and 2024, from 4,180 to 4,043.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Trimble County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Trimble County shows meaningful potential for gasoline stations and fuel dealers attraction, with a 4.95x concentration and 29 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.