Montcalm 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 $5,531 (7.6%) under the Michigan median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 4.5% below the national average, so the nominal median of $67,344 is worth $70,517 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 19.7 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 3,101 workers (25.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $65,875. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 3,148 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $65,875 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,575, a 3.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing concentrates at 5.85x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 15 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.2% 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.

• 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: 83.1% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.9% of housing units are vacant, above the Michigan rate of 11.8%, and down from 16.4% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 83.1% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 11.7% of the vacant stock, or 1.5% of all housing units against the 12.9% 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 $35,966 can pay without cost burden (~$899/mo), and 37.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56.1% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 8.8% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Montcalm County awards 302 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Montcalm County shows strong potential for plastics and rubber products manufacturing attraction, with a 5.85x concentration and 407 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans plastics and rubber products manufacturing, crop production, and animal production and aquaculture, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.2% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.