Cocke County, Tennessee

• 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 $21,579 (31.0%) under the Tennessee median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 8.1% below the national average, so the nominal median of $48,016 is worth $52,248 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 21.9%, 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 24.7 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 45 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 1,411 workers (33.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $32,569. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,744 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.2B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $100,607 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $19,092, a 5.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 10.00x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 46.1% 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 3.3x 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.
• Elevated vacancy: 13.6% of housing units are vacant, above the Tennessee rate of 10.2%, and down from 20.1% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 60.4% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 24.1%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 14.1% of the vacant stock, or 1.9% of all housing units against the 13.6% 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 $31,263 can pay without cost burden (~$782/mo), and 38.4% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 26.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 53.5% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 6.2% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Cocke County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Cocke County shows strong potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 10.00x concentration and 171 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans wood product manufacturing, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, and fabricated metal product manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 46.1% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.