Delaware County, New York

• 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 $22,637 (26.3%) under the New York median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 7.9% above the national average, so the nominal median of $63,337 is worth $58,700 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.4%, 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 8.1 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 49 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 2,903 workers (38.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $108,743. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 3,939 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $3.1B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $108,743 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $24,104, a 4.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 8.77x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 39.5% 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: 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 2.9x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 77.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 36.1% of housing units are vacant, above the New York rate of 10%, and down from 40% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 73.7% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 8% of the vacant stock, or 2.9% of all housing units against the 36.1% 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 $35,756 can pay without cost burden (~$894/mo), and 39% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 27.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 53.6% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 2% between 2019 and 2024, from 20,933 to 20,516.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Delaware County awards 904 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Delaware County shows strong potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 8.77x concentration and 271 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 27.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans wood product manufacturing, mining (except oil and gas), and animal production and aquaculture, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 39.5% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.