McKinley County, New Mexico

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $16,391 (25.6%) under the New Mexico median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 7.8% below the national average, so the nominal median of $47,668 is worth $51,701 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 33.2%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 22.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Young population: Median age of 35 is materially below the U.S. norm, a workforce pipeline asset.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 3,272 workers (27.7% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $35,899. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 6,786 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.9B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Transportation and Warehousing averages $62,872 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $22,444, a 2.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers concentrates at 4.78x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 44.2% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 3 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 1.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• Elevated vacancy: 15.6% of housing units are vacant, above the New Mexico rate of 12.5%, and down from 20.4% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 69.7% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 23.7%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 4.8% of the vacant stock, or 0.7% of all housing units against the 15.6% 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 $43,202 can pay without cost burden (~$1,080/mo), and 36.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Low participation: 48.5% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 5.3% between 2019 and 2024, from 27,598 to 26,134.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in McKinley County award 425 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

McKinley County shows meaningful potential for gasoline stations and fuel dealers attraction, with a 4.78x concentration and 480 jobs in this sub-sector.

The concentrated base spans gasoline stations and fuel dealers, motor vehicle and parts dealers, and transit and ground passenger transportation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 44.2% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.