Rappahannock 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 $9,790 (10.5%) under the Virginia median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living erodes income: Local prices run 8.9% above the national average, so the nominal median of $83,380 is worth $76,566 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Aging population: Median age of 51 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 143 workers (18.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $41,553. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 332 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $390M (2024).
• Wage stratification: Information averages $84,319 while Manufacturing averages $32,954, a 2.6x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing concentrates at 16.25x 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 46.4% 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 6.1x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 73.4% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 22.8% of housing units are vacant, above the Virginia rate of 8.7%, and down from 26.8% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 48% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 5.3% of the vacant stock, or 1.2% of all housing units against the 22.8% 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 $56,786 can pay without cost burden (~$1,420/mo), and 32.7% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 32.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.4% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 0.9% between 2019 and 2024, from 3,762 to 3,729.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Rappahannock County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Rappahannock County shows strong potential for beverage and tobacco product manufacturing attraction, with a 16.25x concentration and 49 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 32.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, private households, and publishing industries and telecommunications, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 46.4% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.