St. Louis County, Missouri

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 4.9% below the national average, so the nominal median of $82,936 is worth $87,209 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 11.7 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 101,150 workers (22.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $65,099. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 51,096 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $114.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Management of Companies and Enterprises averages $151,509 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $29,462, a 5.1x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Management of Companies and Enterprises concentrates at 2.44x the national norm.
• Cluster depth: 6 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.8% of the employment across them, the largest being business and professional services. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 7 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.3x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $49,422 can pay without cost burden (~$1,236/mo), and 45.5% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.5% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 65% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 20 institutions in St. Louis County award 18,407 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

St. Louis County shows emerging potential for management of companies and enterprises attraction, with a 2.44x concentration and 25,777 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.5% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans management of companies and enterprises, insurance carriers and related activities, and computing infrastructure providers and data processing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.8% of the employment across them, the largest being business and professional services. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.