Ocean County, New Jersey

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $13,693 (13.2%) under the New Jersey median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 12.6% above the national average, so the nominal median of $89,863 is worth $79,807 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 45,616 workers (30.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $61,932. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 26,063 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $31.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $88,044 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $29,214, a 3.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Fishing, Hunting and Trapping concentrates at 8.35x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 48.6% 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, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 4.4x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 80.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 17.7% of housing units are vacant, above the New Jersey rate of 7.5%, and down from 20.2% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 75.9% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 6.4% of the vacant stock, or 1.1% of all housing units against the 17.7% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $58,423 can pay without cost burden (~$1,461/mo), and 54.1% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 30.6% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 25.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.1% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 9.3% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 19 institutions in Ocean County award 3,749 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Ocean County shows strong potential for fishing, hunting and trapping attraction, with a 8.35x concentration and 78 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans fishing, hunting and trapping, educational services, and amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 48.6% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.