James City County, Virginia

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 15.3 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
• Aging population: Median age of 47 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 4,627 workers (20.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $59,060. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 4,661 and is counted separately.
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $89,640 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $22,305, a 4.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing concentrates at 9.84x 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 37.2% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. 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 4.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 76.7% 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 $60,617 can pay without cost burden (~$1,515/mo), and 52.2% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 25.9% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56.5% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 4.8% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in James City County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

James City County shows strong potential for beverage and tobacco product manufacturing attraction, with a 9.84x concentration and 626 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.9% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, and clothing, clothing accessories, shoe, and jewelry retailers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.2% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.