Gila County, Arizona

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 16.9%, the rate is in distressed-county territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 17.0 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 51 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Retail Trade employs 2,016 workers (20.8% of the top displayed sectors), at an average wage of $35,136.
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $96,368 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $24,968, a 3.9x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Mining (except Oil and Gas) concentrates at 43.16x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 5 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.
• Attraction whitespace: 8 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 4.3x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 77.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 27.8% vacancy rate; potential opportunity for redevelopment or repositioning.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,550/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 30.3% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Strong participation: 77.9% labor force participation among working-age residents indicates an engaged, available workforce.
• Short commutes: 21.9-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.
• Talent pipeline: 6 local institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 76,320 annual credentials.

Gila County shows strong potential for mining (except oil and gas) attraction, with a 43.16x concentration and 848 jobs in this sub-sector, it ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 30.3% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across mining (except oil and gas), furniture, home furnishings, and other retailers, and waste management and remediation services creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.

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