Berkeley County, West Virginia

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 5.8% below the national average, so the nominal median of $80,815 is worth $85,791 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 10.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 5,226 workers (20% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $56,267. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 8,998 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $6.1B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $78,058 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $22,498, a 3.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing concentrates at 5.71x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 7 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 41.8% 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.
• Attraction whitespace: 3 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.3x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 76% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $51,926 can pay without cost burden (~$1,298/mo), and 42.8% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Healthy participation: 66.2% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 3 institutions in Berkeley County award 1,139 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Berkeley County shows strong potential for nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing attraction, with a 5.71x concentration and 528 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The concentrated base spans nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing, plastics and rubber products manufacturing, and publishing industries and telecommunications, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 41.8% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.