Orleans County, Vermont

• 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 $11,100 (13.7%) under the Vermont median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 5.2 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: Retail Trade employs 1,562 workers (20.7% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $37,712. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,160 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $82,793 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $29,443, a 2.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 11.62x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 11 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45.6% 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.
• Attraction whitespace: 4 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: 79.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 27.9% of housing units are vacant, above the Vermont rate of 19.4%, and down from 32.9% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 83.5% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 2.2% of the vacant stock, or 0.6% of all housing units against the 27.9% 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: 1 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $39,150 can pay without cost burden (~$979/mo), and 38.7% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 25.6% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 61.4% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Orleans County awards 30 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Orleans County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 11.62x concentration and 196 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans animal production and aquaculture, wood product manufacturing, and accommodation, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 45.6% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.