Lares Municipio, Puerto Rico

• 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 $7,380 (28.1%) under the Puerto Rico median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Elevated poverty: At 55.4%, 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 14.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 46 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 612 workers (29.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $21,814. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 959 and is counted separately.
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $43,012 while Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting averages $15,284, a 2.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Food and Beverage Retailers concentrates at 3.99x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 5 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 43.8% 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 5.6x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• Vacancy level: 16.6% of housing units are vacant, below the Puerto Rico rate of 21%, and down from 19.1% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 74.9% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 13.9%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 9.9% of the vacant stock, or 1.6% of all housing units against the 16.6% 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 $18,466 can pay without cost burden (~$462/mo), and 29.6% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 43% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 26.1% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Lares Municipio per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Lares Municipio shows meaningful potential for food and beverage retailers attraction, with a 3.99x concentration and 317 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans food and beverage retailers, health and personal care retailers, and food manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 43.8% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.