Jefferson 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 $3,481 (5.0%) under the Tennessee median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 13.6% below the national average, so the nominal median of $66,114 is worth $76,521 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 14.9 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• 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: Manufacturing employs 2,084 workers (25.7% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $86,939. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,691 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Real Estate and Rental and Leasing averages $148,708 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $19,187, a 7.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Truck Transportation concentrates at 9.84x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 7 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 41.1% 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 3.5x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 75.8% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.9% of housing units are vacant, above the Tennessee rate of 10.2%, and down from 16.7% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 45.4% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 7.9% of the vacant stock, or 1.2% of all housing units against the 14.9% 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 $44,453 can pay without cost burden (~$1,111/mo), and 35.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 26.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 60.1% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Jefferson County awards 901 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Jefferson County shows strong potential for truck transportation attraction, with a 9.84x concentration and 1,275 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 26.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans truck transportation, transportation equipment manufacturing, and furniture and related product manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 41.1% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.