Tippah County, Mississippi

• 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 $3,905 (6.9%) under the Mississippi median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 13.0% below the national average, so the nominal median of $52,542 is worth $60,393 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 18.9%, 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 17.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 2,134 workers (46.5% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $55,475. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,095 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $899M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $127,731 while Retail Trade averages $29,235, a 4.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Mining (except Oil and Gas) concentrates at 29.10x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 34.3% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.4x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 74.8% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 19.5% of housing units are vacant, above the Mississippi rate of 14.6%, and down from 20.8% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 76.9% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 11.8%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 10.7% of the vacant stock, or 2.1% of all housing units against the 19.5% 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: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $37,910 can pay without cost burden (~$948/mo), and 25.1% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.3% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 7.4% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Tippah County award 196 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Tippah County shows strong potential for mining (except oil and gas) attraction, with a 29.10x concentration and 251 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans mining (except oil and gas), forestry and logging, and truck transportation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 34.3% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.