Island County, Washington

• Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $7,590 (7.7%) under the Washington median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Aging population: Median age of 45 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Accommodation and Food Services employs 2,269 workers (19.5% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $29,322. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 4,725 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $4.7B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $124,267 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $25,706, a 4.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Building Material and Garden Supply Retailers concentrates at 3.61x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 15 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.9% 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.
• Attraction whitespace: 4 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 6.6x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 74.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 15.8% of housing units are vacant, above the Washington rate of 7.3%, and down from 17% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 63.5% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 16.5% of the vacant stock, or 2.6% of all housing units against the 15.8% 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: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $63,319 can pay without cost burden (~$1,583/mo), and 50.2% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 24.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 2.2% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Island County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Island County shows meaningful potential for building material and garden supply retailers attraction, with a 3.61x concentration and 511 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans building material and garden supply retailers, construction of buildings, and private households, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 37.9% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.