Henry 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 $18,982 (27.3%) 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 $50,613 is worth $55,074 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 18.3%, 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 16.6 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: Manufacturing employs 2,333 workers (28.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $53,257. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,467 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $63,863 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $17,436, a 3.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing concentrates at 15.02x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 47.1% 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: 3 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.2x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 73.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 21.3% of housing units are vacant, above the Tennessee rate of 10.2%, and down from 22.3% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 40.7% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 7.7% of the vacant stock, or 1.6% of all housing units against the 21.3% 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 $32,966 can pay without cost burden (~$824/mo), and 30.6% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 27.1% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 52.3% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 4.5% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Short commutes: 21.6-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Henry County awards 135 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Henry County shows strong potential for plastics and rubber products manufacturing attraction, with a 15.02x concentration and 759 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 27.1% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans plastics and rubber products manufacturing, fabricated metal product manufacturing, and wood product manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 47.1% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.