Bergen County, New Jersey

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 12.6% above the national average, so the nominal median of $124,884 is worth $110,909 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 17.4 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 84,386 workers (25.6% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $81,798. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 45,741 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $105.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $133,316 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $33,510, a 4.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Miscellaneous Manufacturing concentrates at 2.71x the national norm.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 39% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 6 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed and clear the local siting screen on energy cost, freight access and land base, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 5.0x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Affordable rent tiers: 1 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $74,953 can pay without cost burden (~$1,874/mo), and 48.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 67.2% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 14 institutions in Bergen County award 7,016 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Bergen County shows emerging potential for miscellaneous manufacturing attraction, with a 2.71x concentration and 4,869 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans miscellaneous manufacturing, printing and related support activities, and clothing, clothing accessories, shoe, and jewelry retailers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 39% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.