Clay County, Nebraska

• 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 9.9% below the national average, so the nominal median of $78,986 is worth $87,665 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 13.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Construction employs 212 workers (23.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $68,983. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 694 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $469M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $68,983 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $15,906, a 4.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 18.03x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 5 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 49.3% 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 2.0x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 81.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 11.6% of housing units are vacant, above the Nebraska rate of 7.6%, and down from 15.6% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 71.6% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 8.6%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 16.8% of the vacant stock, or 2% of all housing units against the 11.6% 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 $36,818 can pay without cost burden (~$920/mo), and 27.6% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 27.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 67.5% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Clay County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Clay County shows strong potential for crop production attraction, with a 18.03x concentration and 96 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 27.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans crop production, merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods, and repair and maintenance, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 49.3% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.