Mayes County, Oklahoma

• 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 $4,734 (7.3%) under the Oklahoma median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 12.2% below the national average, so the nominal median of $60,305 is worth $68,685 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 16.2%, 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 17.7 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 3,186 workers (31.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $68,689. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,782 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Information averages $154,188 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,606, a 7.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing concentrates at 7.44x 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 38.6% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. 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 3.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 74.4% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 16.7% of housing units are vacant, above the Oklahoma rate of 12%, and down from 18.1% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 36.2% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 8.8% of the vacant stock, or 1.5% of all housing units against the 16.7% 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 $36,751 can pay without cost burden (~$919/mo), and 33.9% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56.9% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 2.2% between 2019 and 2024, from 18,327 to 17,921.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Mayes County awards 701 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Mayes County shows strong potential for petroleum and coal products manufacturing attraction, with a 7.44x concentration and 69 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans petroleum and coal products manufacturing, nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, and chemical manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.6% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.