Mathews 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 $17,290 (18.6%) under the Virginia median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 7.3 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 55 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 189 workers (26.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $32,370. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 390 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $261M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Construction averages $58,136 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,213, a 2.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries concentrates at 4.14x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 6 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 49.6% 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.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 4.8x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 84% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 27.4% of housing units are vacant, above the Virginia rate of 8.7%, and down from 31.8% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 67.8% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 2.8% of the vacant stock, or 0.8% of all housing units against the 27.4% 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 $42,857 can pay without cost burden (~$1,071/mo), and 33% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 20.1% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 32% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 48.7% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 4.4% between 2019 and 2024, from 3,786 to 3,620.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Mathews County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Mathews County shows meaningful potential for amusement, gambling, and recreation industries attraction, with a 4.14x concentration and 71 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 32% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, building material and garden supply retailers, and repair and maintenance, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 49.6% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.