Leslie County, Kentucky

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 30.3%, 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 24.2 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 sector: Retail Trade employs 171 workers (67.3% of the top displayed sectors), at an average wage of $28,191.

• Top specialization: Health and Personal Care Retailers concentrates at 4.06x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 3 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 1.9x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 85.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.1% 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 (~$898/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 24.6% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 57.4% labor force participation suggests untapped capacity; workforce development programs may unlock supply.
• Talent pipeline: 6 local institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 21,597 annual credentials.

Leslie County shows meaningful potential for health and personal care retailers attraction, with a 4.06x concentration and 45 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.6% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across health and personal care retailers, gasoline stations and fuel dealers, and food and beverage retailers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.

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