Berkeley County, South Carolina

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Broadly in line with U.S. norms across income, poverty, and education.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 9,888 workers (18.6% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $92,007. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 10,155 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $14.3B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $109,978 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $24,675, a 4.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Primary Metal Manufacturing concentrates at 15.49x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 13 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 42.6% 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 3.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 74.5% 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 $61,423 can pay without cost burden (~$1,536/mo), and 45.5% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 23.7% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Healthy participation: 66% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Berkeley County awards 162 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Berkeley County shows strong potential for primary metal manufacturing attraction, with a 15.49x concentration and 2,534 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The concentrated base spans primary metal manufacturing, textile product mills, and forestry and logging, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 42.6% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.