Aiken County, South Carolina

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 14.3%, 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 3.8 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: Administrative and Support and Waste Management employs 10,042 workers (18.6% of the top displayed sectors), at an average wage of $89,264.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $10.4B (2024) with per-capita income of $56,728.
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $106,597 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,431, a 5.2x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Textile Mills concentrates at 29.36x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 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 3.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 76.5% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 12.6% vacancy rate; potential opportunity for redevelopment or repositioning.

• Succession risk is real: 23.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Strong participation: 82.0% labor force participation among working-age residents indicates an engaged, available workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 6 local institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 20,095 annual credentials.

Aiken County shows strong potential for textile mills attraction, with a 29.36x concentration and 1,048 jobs in this sub-sector, it ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across textile mills, plastics and rubber products manufacturing, and construction of buildings creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.

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