Montgomery 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 $21,031 (24.5%) 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 $64,943 is worth $60,188 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.6%, 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 12.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 4,090 workers (27% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $57,047. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,734 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $66,177 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $23,870, a 2.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 6.29x 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 47.8% 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 2.4x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 70.4% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.7% of housing units are vacant, above the New York rate of 10%, and down from 16.3% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 72.5% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 5.8%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 17.2% of the vacant stock, or 2.5% of all housing units against the 14.7% 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 $37,124 can pay without cost burden (~$928/mo), and 40.9% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.5% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 61.4% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Montgomery County awards 231 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Montgomery County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 6.29x concentration and 208 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.5% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans animal production and aquaculture, textile product mills, and nursing and residential care facilities, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 47.8% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.