Nash County, North Carolina

• 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 $9,962 (13.8%) under the North Carolina median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 12.0% below the national average, so the nominal median of $62,426 is worth $70,939 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 13.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 7,600 workers (25.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $75,032. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 6,538 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $7.2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $83,649 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $21,263, a 3.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 3.52x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 39.1% 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: 4 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 3.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Vacancy level: 11.4% of housing units are vacant, below the North Carolina rate of 12.5%, and down from 14% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 62.2% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 18.3%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 11.6% of the vacant stock, or 1.3% of all housing units against the 11.4% 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: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $47,292 can pay without cost burden (~$1,182/mo), and 37.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.9% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.5% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 0.4% between 2019 and 2024, from 46,279 to 46,083.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Nash County award 1,342 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Nash County shows meaningful potential for crop production attraction, with a 3.52x concentration and 471 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.9% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans crop production, merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods, and repair and maintenance, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 39.1% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.