Location Quotient (LQ)

Location quotient (LQ) is a way of quantifying how concentrated a particular industry, cluster, occupation, or demographic group is in a region as compared to the nation. It can reveal what makes a particular region “unique.” For example, if the leather products manufacturing industry accounts for 10% of jobs in your area but 1% of jobs nationally, then the area’s leather-producing industry has an LQ of 10. So in your area, leather manufacturing accounts for a larger than average “share” of total jobs—the share is ten times larger than normal.

For a long-form explanation of Location Quotient, see Emsi’s blog post on the subject.

Source: Emsi’s proprietary employment data.