Allegany County, Maryland

• 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 $44,075 (42.5%) under the Maryland median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 5.0% above the national average, so the nominal median of $59,603 is worth $56,765 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 16.9%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 14.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 5,279 workers (28.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $62,925. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 5,957 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $3.5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $64,039 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $23,876, a 2.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Internet Publishing and Broadcasting concentrates at 3.41x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45.4% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 3 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: 70.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 16.3% of housing units are vacant, above the Maryland rate of 7.7%, and down from 16.7% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 59.8% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 18.1%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 17.8% of the vacant stock, or 2.9% of all housing units against the 16.3% 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: 1 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $32,819 can pay without cost burden (~$820/mo), and 35% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Low participation: 49.8% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 7.8% between 2019 and 2024, from 30,607 to 28,211.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Allegany County award 1,781 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Allegany County shows meaningful potential for internet publishing and broadcasting attraction, with a 3.41x concentration and 183 jobs in this sub-sector.

The concentrated base spans internet publishing and broadcasting, gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and accommodation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45.4% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.