Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

• 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 $11,748 (15.1%) under the Pennsylvania median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 6.4% below the national average, so the nominal median of $66,223 is worth $70,751 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.4%, 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 5.1 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: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 21,073 workers (27.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $57,789. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 10,626 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $13.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $93,479 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $22,431, a 4.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Textile Mills concentrates at 4.80x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.4% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 7 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 3.0x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Elevated vacancy: 11.9% of housing units are vacant, above the Pennsylvania rate of 9.2%, and down from 13.1% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 49.3% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 21%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 17.9% of the vacant stock, or 2.1% of all housing units against the 11.9% 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: 1 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $39,028 can pay without cost burden (~$976/mo), and 44.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.3% 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 against a labor force that grew 1.7% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Short commutes: 21.1-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.
• Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 10 institutions in Lackawanna County award 3,376 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Lackawanna County shows meaningful potential for textile mills attraction, with a 4.80x concentration and 258 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans textile mills, warehousing and storage, and miscellaneous manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.4% of the employment across them, the largest being health care economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.