Clarke County, Virginia

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 8.9% above the national average, so the nominal median of $117,111 is worth $107,540 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• 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 587 workers (20.2% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $56,352. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 717 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $612M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $107,134 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $25,284, a 4.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 10.24x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.8% of the employment across them, the largest being construction and real estate cycle. 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 4.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 81.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 10.1% of housing units are vacant, above the Virginia rate of 8.7%, and down from 11.6% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 79.2% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 13.9%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 6.3% of the vacant stock, or 0.6% of all housing units against the 10.1% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $39,497 can pay without cost burden (~$987/mo), and 55.1% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 38.6% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 29.7% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.6% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 0.7% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Clarke County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Clarke County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 10.24x concentration and 71 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 29.7% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans animal production and aquaculture, heavy and civil engineering construction, and gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.8% of the employment across them, the largest being construction and real estate cycle. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.