Island County, Washington

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by -0.9 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 45 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest sector: Accommodation and Food Services employs 2,269 workers (19.5% of the top displayed sectors), at an average wage of $29,322.
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $124,267 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $25,706, a 4.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Building Material and Garden Supply Retailers concentrates at 3.13x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
• Cluster depth: 8 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.

• Stretched market: Home value to income ratio of 6.6x is well above the ~4.1x national average; attainable workforce housing may be a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 74.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 15.8% 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 (~$2,264/mo).

• Succession risk is real: 24.2% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Strong participation: 84.7% 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 28,545 annual credentials.

Island County shows meaningful potential for building material and garden supply retailers attraction, with a 3.13x concentration and 511 jobs in this sub-sector. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 24.2% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The interconnected base across building material and garden supply retailers, construction of buildings, and private households creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.

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