Morrow County, Ohio

• 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 4.5% below the national average, so the nominal median of $75,283 is worth $78,830 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 16.3 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: Manufacturing employs 709 workers (24.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $63,556. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,416 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $910M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $66,315 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $17,808, a 3.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers concentrates at 7.12x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 7 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 35.8% of the employment across them, the largest being construction and real estate cycle. 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 3.0x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 81.2% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $42,276 can pay without cost burden (~$1,057/mo), and 34% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 16.8% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 25% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 61.1% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Morrow County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Morrow County shows strong potential for gasoline stations and fuel dealers attraction, with a 7.12x concentration and 218 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans gasoline stations and fuel dealers, crop production, and waste management and remediation services, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 35.8% of the employment across them, the largest being construction and real estate cycle. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.