McHenry County, North Dakota

• 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 13.0% below the national average, so the nominal median of $80,733 is worth $92,797 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 15.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Wholesale Trade employs 141 workers (20.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $85,953. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 370 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $279M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction averages $108,648 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $9,667, a 11.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 16.58x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 28.8% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 1.9x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 81.4% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 20.8% of housing units are vacant, above the North Dakota rate of 12.3%, and up from 18.2% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 29.5% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 14.2% of the vacant stock, or 2.9% of all housing units against the 20.8% 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: 4 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $60,114 can pay without cost burden (~$1,503/mo), and 16.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 27.6% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 63.1% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in McHenry County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

McHenry County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 16.58x concentration and 31 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 27.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans animal production and aquaculture, crop production, and gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 28.8% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.