Botetourt County, Virginia

• 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 $11,957 (12.8%) under the Virginia median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 6.4% below the national average, so the nominal median of $81,213 is worth $86,766 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 7.2 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 48 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 2,288 workers (25.5% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $72,928. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 1,816 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $1.9B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Wholesale Trade averages $78,817 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $23,151, a 3.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing concentrates at 8.36x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 43.6% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. 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 3.6x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 85.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.3% of housing units are vacant, above the Virginia rate of 8.7%, and up from 10.9% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 50.8% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 23.2%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 17.3% of the vacant stock, or 2.1% of all housing units against the 12.3% 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: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $59,845 can pay without cost burden (~$1,496/mo), and 29.2% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 28.1% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56.9% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 2.5% between 2019 and 2024, from 16,624 to 16,201.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Botetourt County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Botetourt County shows strong potential for beverage and tobacco product manufacturing attraction, with a 8.36x concentration and 217 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 28.1% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, transportation equipment manufacturing, and nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 43.6% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.