Clare County, Michigan

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 21.6%, 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 22.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 49 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 1,074 workers (20.0% of the top displayed sectors), at an average wage of $49,502.
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $81,559 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $17,931, a 4.5x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Wood Product Manufacturing concentrates at 4.66x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 9 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 2.7x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 86.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 43.1% vacancy rate; potential opportunity for redevelopment or repositioning.
• Affordable rent tiers: 4 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,235/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 29.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Talent pipeline: 6 local institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 35,780 annual credentials.

Clare County shows meaningful potential for wood product manufacturing attraction, with a 4.66x concentration and 90 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 29.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across wood product manufacturing, religious, grantmaking, civic, professional orgs, and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and misc. retailers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.

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