Housing: A Backbone of Advanced Manufacturing Growth
Randy Wolken, President & CEO
Healthy housing markets are one of the most important—and often overlooked—ingredients for sustaining industry growth in a community, especially in advanced manufacturing. Existing and new facilities can bring thousands of well-paying jobs, but if workers can’t afford to live nearby, companies will struggle to hire, families will struggle to thrive, and growth will become stagnant. The good news is research and recent case studies show communities that plan housing alongside industrial expansion can unlock powerful economic, social, and educational benefits.
Across the U.S., the housing supply hasn’t kept pace with demand. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates there’s a national shortage of more than 4.7 million homes, a gap that has driven up prices, strained workers’ budgets, and reduced workforce mobility. Their 2025 housing initiative emphasizes that boosting supply is no longer just a social issue, but an economic competitiveness issue. Brookings researchers recently found that in every major metropolitan area, at least one-fifth of middle-class households can’t afford to live where they work, even after adjusting for local price differences. Additionally, new analysis from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that 65% of working-age renters struggle to cover their basic needs after paying rent. These burdens typically land directly on the workers that advanced manufacturers need—technicians, engineers, operators, and support staff.
For communities courting advanced manufacturing, housing is therefore a workforce strategy. The National League of Cities argues that cities must treat housing as a core workforce issue. Without enough safe, affordable homes near jobs, it becomes harder for workers to accept job positions, for businesses to expand, and for communities to remain vibrant. When housing is scarce or expensive, companies face higher turnover, longer vacancies, and greater recruiting costs. In turn, employees endure long commutes, burnout, and less time with their families. Over time, these pressures can push talent and investment to regions where living and working are better aligned.
Recent research also clarifies how housing supply affects regional economic performance. A study published in the journal, Housing Policy Debate, examined the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas and found that limited supplies of affordable housing can impede economic growth by restricting where workers can move to find better jobs. A Brookings Hamilton Project analysis describes a “housing–productivity nexus,” showing that when high-productivity regions fail to build enough homes, they effectively lock out workers, reducing national output and innovation. Complementary work summarized by NYU’s Furman Center finds that adding new homes—especially in high-demand areas—helps slow rent growth and frees up units across the income spectrum, not just at the top.
Advanced manufacturing clusters illustrate how urgent this housing agenda is. Here in Central Upstate New York, Micron’s planned semiconductor megafabs are projected to generate over 50,000 jobs, including about 9,000 direct positions, over the coming decades. These numbers are in addition to the projected growth of existing manufacturers in the area. That kind of growth will require new housing options for technicians, engineers, support staff, and their families across a range of incomes and life stages—from apartments for younger workers, to homes for growing families, and downsizing options for older residents. If the region pairs its industrial growth strategy with a robust housing plan including zoning reform, mixed-income developments, and transit-linked neighborhoods, it can convert a once-in-a-generation investment into long-term community prosperity.
Similar dynamics are playing out in emerging “hidden growth markets” where advanced manufacturing, logistics, and energy projects are expanding. Recent analysis highlights places like Reno, Nevada and other rising regions where industrial growth is driving demand not only for plants and warehouses, but for housing, services, and community amenities. In rural America, McKinsey has emphasized that manufacturing companies rely on a stable, local workforce and that communities need to align education, transportation, and housing to support it. In many of these places, modest, well-planned housing investments can make the difference between a short-lived boom and a durable economic transformation.
Encouragingly, communities aren’t starting from scratch. Organizations such as the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) describe how regions can treat affordable and workforce housing as a core economic asset, using tools such as land banks, regional planning, and creative financing to support new construction and rehabilitation. Developers and policymakers are also focusing on “workforce housing” for middle-income households earning roughly 60 to 140% of area median income, in other words people who earn too much for traditional subsidies but too little to comfortably afford rent in tight markets. Meeting the needs of this “missing middle” is essential for advanced manufacturing employers, who rely heavily on technicians, supervisors, and skilled trades in these income bands.
Innovation is also reshaping how housing itself is built. Factory-built homes, for example, are creating manufacturing jobs while delivering a more predictable, efficient housing supply. A 2025 analysis found that factory-built housing supports employment in both manufacturing and local services and offers a flexible tool for communities facing housing and labor shortages. For regions focused on advanced manufacturing, this creates an appealing synergy; the same capabilities that produce world-class industrial products can be used to produce high-quality homes.
Overall, the evidence points to an optimistic conclusion: if a growing community plans housing and industry together, it can build a virtuous cycle. New manufacturing facilities bring jobs and tax revenue. Thoughtful housing policies allowing more diverse housing types, encouraging mixed-income neighborhoods, streamlining approvals, and investing in infrastructure, create places where workers want to live and stay. That stability, in turn, makes it easier for companies to expand, for schools and training providers to invest, and for families to build wealth.
In other words, housing isn’t simply a backdrop for economic growth; it’s a central part of the growth strategy itself. Communities that recognize this, and act on the growing body of research linking housing, productivity, and opportunity, can welcome advanced manufacturing growth with confidence—knowing they’re building not just factories with well-paying jobs, but a strong, inclusive future for the people who will power them.