Peñuelas 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 $3,600 (13.7%) under the Puerto Rico median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Elevated poverty: At 52.3%, 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 10.6 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: Retail Trade employs 313 workers (21.7% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $20,512. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 915 and is counted separately.
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $52,649 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $15,912, a 3.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Repair and Maintenance concentrates at 4.86x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 6 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45.4% 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.9x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Vacancy level: 20.3% of housing units are vacant, below the Puerto Rico rate of 21%, and down from 21.2% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 67.7% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 18.2%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 7.4% of the vacant stock, or 1.5% of all housing units against the 20.3% 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 $19,360 can pay without cost burden (~$484/mo), and 16% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 22.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 43.1% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 9% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Peñuelas Municipio per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Peñuelas Municipio shows meaningful potential for repair and maintenance attraction, with a 4.86x concentration and 91 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 22.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans repair and maintenance, health and personal care retailers, and gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45.4% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.