Crawford County, Michigan

• 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 $12,483 (17.1%) under the Michigan median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 3.8% below the national average, so the nominal median of $60,392 is worth $62,778 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.7%, 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 15.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 52 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 788 workers (30.6% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $60,413. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 832 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $563M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $70,673 while Information averages $28,381, a 2.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 45.80x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 6 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 48.8% 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.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 79.6% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 39.7% of housing units are vacant, above the Michigan rate of 11.8%, and down from 45.1% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 93.5% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 2% of the vacant stock, or 0.8% of all housing units against the 39.7% 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 $30,632 can pay without cost burden (~$766/mo), and 35.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 32.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 49.8% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 4.1% between 2019 and 2024, from 5,884 to 5,643.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Crawford County awards 310 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Crawford County shows strong potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 45.80x concentration and 466 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 32.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans wood product manufacturing, gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and personal and laundry services, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 48.8% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.