Lee County, Texas

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $2,105 (2.7%) under the Texas median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 14.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Construction employs 2,338 workers (46% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $88,983. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,228 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $88,983 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $23,534, a 3.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction concentrates at 37.14x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 6 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, but 79.8% of the employment across them depends on one source of demand: construction and real estate cycle. Read the count as depth within that single demand base rather than as spread across separate ones.
• 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 3.5x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 77.8% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.5% of housing units are vacant, above the Texas rate of 9.4%, and down from 22.2% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 72.4% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 24.7%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 1.4% of the vacant stock, or 0.2% of all housing units against the 12.5% 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 $44,500 can pay without cost burden (~$1,112/mo), and 45.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 25.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.9% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 4.9% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Lee County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Lee County shows strong potential for heavy and civil engineering construction attraction, with a 37.14x concentration and 2,121 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

Most of the employment across the concentrated sub-sectors traces back to a single source of demand. Construction and real estate cycle accounts for 79.8% of it, all of it in heavy and civil engineering construction. Recruitment that widens the demand base changes that exposure; recruitment inside the same base deepens it.