St. Charles Parish, Louisiana

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 7.4% below the national average, so the nominal median of $80,897 is worth $87,362 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 8.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Construction employs 5,465 workers (26.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $133,214. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 3,447 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $12.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $150,938 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $18,880, a 8.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Water Transportation concentrates at 88.97x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 11 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 49% 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: 4 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.3x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 82.1% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Vacancy level: 10.1% of housing units are vacant, below the Louisiana rate of 14.4%, and up from 7.2% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 59.3% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 9.3%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 28.7% of the vacant stock, or 2.9% of all housing units against the 10.1% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $31,556 can pay without cost burden (~$789/mo), and 57.4% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 38.6% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 23.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 64.2% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in St. Charles Parish per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

St. Charles Parish shows strong potential for water transportation attraction, with a 88.97x concentration and 1,037 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans water transportation, petroleum and coal products manufacturing, and chemical manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 49% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.