Kent County, Rhode Island

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Aging population: Median age of 44 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 14,444 workers (24.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $67,004. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 7,173 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $12.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $100,621 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $28,352, a 3.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Chemical Manufacturing concentrates at 3.03x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 40% 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.
• Attraction whitespace: 4 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed and clear the local siting screen on energy cost, freight access and land base, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• 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.
• High home ownership: 73.1% 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 $49,043 can pay without cost burden (~$1,226/mo), and 47.1% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 22.7% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 24.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 66.5% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Kent County award 2,999 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Kent County shows meaningful potential for chemical manufacturing attraction, with a 3.03x concentration and 1,404 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans chemical manufacturing, miscellaneous manufacturing, and transit and ground passenger transportation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 40% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.