Putnam 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 11.6% below the national average, so the nominal median of $79,527 is worth $89,963 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 6.6 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 3,167 workers (17.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $90,926. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,196 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $3.8B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $90,926 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $21,264, a 4.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction concentrates at 7.52x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 8 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 48.5% of the employment across them, the largest being construction and real estate cycle. 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.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.8x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 81.8% 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 $40,380 can pay without cost burden (~$1,010/mo), and 38% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.1% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 59.5% labor force participation against a labor force that grew 4.3% between 2019 and 2024, so workforce development programs may unlock additional supply.
• Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Putnam County award 89 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Putnam County shows strong potential for heavy and civil engineering construction attraction, with a 7.52x concentration and 1,346 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.1% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans heavy and civil engineering construction, utilities, and gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 48.5% of the employment across them, the largest being construction and real estate cycle. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.