Frederick County, Virginia

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 3.6% below the national average, so the nominal median of $97,606 is worth $101,251 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 6,335 workers (21.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $78,616. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 5,597 and is counted separately.
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $89,010 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $26,447, a 3.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing concentrates at 12.78x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 13 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 35% 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: 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 4.0x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 79.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $62,306 can pay without cost burden (~$1,558/mo), and 39.8% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.3% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 64.9% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Frederick County awards 1,392 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Frederick County shows strong potential for plastics and rubber products manufacturing attraction, with a 12.78x concentration and 2,198 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans plastics and rubber products manufacturing, warehousing and storage, and credit intermediation and related activities, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 35% of the employment across them, the largest being freight and distribution. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.