Brunswick County, North Carolina

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 3.6% below the national average, so the nominal median of $77,024 is worth $79,900 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Aging population: Median age of 56 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 6,715 workers (21.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $34,403. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 6,307 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $8.1B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $102,914 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $26,174, a 3.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Utilities concentrates at 5.81x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 15 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 40.6% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 4.5x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 84.6% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 30.2% of housing units are vacant, above the North Carolina rate of 12.5%, and down from 37.3% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 72.4% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 16.2% of the vacant stock, or 4.9% of all housing units against the 30.2% headline vacancy rate. That is the figure to plan an incoming employer's housing against, 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 $48,968 can pay without cost burden (~$1,224/mo), and 44.9% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 25.5% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 34.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 49.1% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 17.3% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Brunswick County awards 454 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Brunswick County shows strong potential for utilities attraction, with a 5.81x concentration and 970 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 34.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans utilities, amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, and scenic and sightseeing transportation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 40.6% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.