Henry County, Missouri

• 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 $12,776 (18.1%) under the Missouri median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 9.2% below the national average, so the nominal median of $57,926 is worth $63,795 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.3%, 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 19.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 44 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 1,270 workers (29.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $38,768. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,977 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.1B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Utilities averages $107,850 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $19,987, a 5.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers concentrates at 3.78x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, but 51% of the employment across them depends on one source of demand: resident household spending. Read the count as depth within that single demand base rather than as spread across separate ones.

• 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: 75% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14% of housing units are vacant, above the Missouri rate of 11.2%, and down from 14.9% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 72.9% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 15%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 10% of the vacant stock, or 1.4% of all housing units against the 14% 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: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $30,653 can pay without cost burden (~$766/mo), and 47.6% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 26.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 55.9% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 3.3% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Short commutes: 21.8-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.

Henry County shows meaningful potential for motor vehicle and parts dealers attraction, with a 3.78x concentration and 366 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

Most of the employment across the concentrated sub-sectors traces back to a single source of demand. Resident household spending accounts for 51% of it, with social assistance the largest single sub-sector at 30.2%. Recruitment that widens the demand base changes that exposure; recruitment inside the same base deepens it.