Skagit 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 $8,878 (9.0%) under the Washington median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 5.5 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 6,568 workers (18.1% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $45,297. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 12,758 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $9.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $100,025 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $31,433, a 3.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 11.25x 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 30.8% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. 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 6.1x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 70.1% 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 $55,170 can pay without cost burden (~$1,379/mo), and 49.8% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 58.4% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 3.8% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Skagit County awards 974 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Skagit County shows strong potential for crop production attraction, with a 11.25x concentration and 1,846 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans crop production, wood product manufacturing, and machinery manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 30.8% of the employment across them, the largest being goods manufacturing. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.