Monmouth 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 $124,845 is worth $110,875 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 15.6 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 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 58,179 workers (27.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $77,979. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 30,385 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $52.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $145,820 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $30,762, a 4.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Personal and Laundry Services concentrates at 2.41x the national norm.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45% 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: 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 4.9x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 75.6% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $62,592 can pay without cost burden (~$1,565/mo), and 50% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 26.9% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 25.9% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 66% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 9 institutions in Monmouth County award 3,825 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Monmouth County shows emerging potential for personal and laundry services attraction, with a 2.41x concentration and 7,100 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.9% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans personal and laundry services, amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, and clothing, clothing accessories, shoe, and jewelry retailers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.