Dawson County, GA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.44, -84.17.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 90th pct · 284th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 95th pct · 8th of 159 Georgia counties · median $215,610
- 85th pct · 5th of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median $340,765
- 17th pct · 2,514th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 17th pct · 131st of 159 Georgia counties · median +2.5%
- 50th pct · 15th of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median -0.4%
- 88th pct · 157th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 91st pct · 7th of 69 Georgia counties · median $1,701
- 91st pct · 3rd of 24 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median $1,822
- 57th pct · 1,369th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 66th pct · 54th of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
- 32nd pct · 20th of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median 31,378
- 13th pct · 2,795th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 17th pct · 132nd of 159 Georgia counties · median $964
- 0th pct · 29th of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median $1,138
- 97th pct · 80th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 98th pct · 4th of 159 Georgia counties · median 4.2
- 100th pct · 1st of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median 5.6
Typical home value divided by the average annual wage of one covered job.
A percentile here is a min-max scaling of average rank: the smallest published value in the cohort is 0 and the largest is 100, and tied values share the average of the ranks they span. It is not the share of entities below the value, so 0 means smallest, not none below. Entities that did not publish the metric are outside the cohort entirely and are counted in neither the rank nor its denominator.
Home values #
Typical home $449,830 (Sep 2026), -0.4% over one year, +25.6% over five
- 90th pct · 284th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 95th pct · 8th of 159 Georgia counties · median $215,610
- 85th pct · 5th of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median $340,765
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Dawson County, GA | $449,830 · -0.4% 1-yr |
Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.
Rents #
Typical rent $2,139/mo (Sep 2026), +2.8% over one year; price-to-rent 17.5
- 88th pct · 157th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 91st pct · 7th of 69 Georgia counties · median $1,701
- 91st pct · 3rd of 24 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median $1,822
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Dawson County, GA | $2,139/mo · +2.8% 1-yr |
Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).
What the typical home costs to carry #
Principal and interest of $2,492 a month on $449,830 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,731 a month: 66.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $449,830 × 80% = $359,864, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,492/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $861 × 52 / 12 = $3,731) = 67% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $449,830 / ($861 × 52) = 10.0
- price-to-rent = $449,830 / ($2,139 × 12) = 17.5
The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.
Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.
Jobs & wages #
11,275 jobs at 1,025 employers (2026 Q1); -0.2% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 57th pct · 1,369th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 66th pct · 54th of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
- 32nd pct · 20th of 29 counties in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro · median 31,378
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Dawson County, GA | 11,275 jobs · $861/wk · -0.2% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 2,851 | $620 | 2.59 | -4.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 2,536 | $485 | 2.50 | +0.7% |
| Manufacturing | 951 | $1,330 | 1.05 | +1.7% |
| Health care and social assistance | 777 | $1,049 | 0.46 | -1.5% |
| Construction | 518 | $1,239 | 0.88 | -13.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 437 | $1,790 | 0.56 | +12.9% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 363 | $373 | 1.96 | +5.8% |
| Wholesale trade | 332 | $1,833 | 0.77 | +13.3% |
| Other services | 290 | $730 | 0.86 | -2.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 206 | $1,502 | 0.45 | -21.7% |
| Real estate and rental | 99 | $1,073 | 0.57 | -8.3% |
| Educational services | 63 | $889 | 0.26 | +12.5% |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.
Drought #
D1 moderate drought
Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.
US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.
Reservoirs #
Surface water layer not loaded
Sites found: 0, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.
Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.
Stream gauges #
Surface water layer not loaded
Sites found: 0, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.
USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.
Groundwater #
No USGS monitoring wells within 75 km (or above 1,500 km)
Sites found: 0, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.
USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.
Water stress #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$1.1 bn in deposits at 7 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,390, highly concentrated. $193.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $193.4 m, contracts $256,753), $17,156 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| United Community Bank | $427.4 m · 38.8% share · 2 offices | |
| Bank OZK | $191.9 m · 17.4% share · 1 office | |
| Coastal States Bank | $178.5 m · 16.2% share · 1 office | |
| Dawson, GA | $193.4 m FY2026 · $17,156/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $192.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Community Bank | $427,438,000 | 38.8% | 2 |
| Bank OZK | $191,884,000 | 17.4% | 1 |
| Coastal States Bank | $178,481,000 | 16.2% | 1 |
| Truist Bank | $170,284,000 | 15.5% | 1 |
| Regions Bank | $85,472,000 | 7.8% | 1 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $47,946,000 | 4.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,390 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 38.8² + 17.4² + 16.2² + … (3 more) = 2,390
FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.
Federal obligations #
USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.
| Awarding agency | Obligations |
|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $163,902,218 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $28,159,626 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $634,586 |
| Department of Agriculture | $562,248 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $510,685 |
| Department of Defense | $5,000 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
| Department of Transportation | -$339,443 |
That is $17,156 per covered job, against 11,275 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $193.4 m / 11,275 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,156
USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.
National context, not this county #
These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.
| Series | Latest | As of | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi River at Memphis, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Mississippi River at St. Louis, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Ohio River at Louisville, stage · ft | 17.95 | 2026-10-18 | -2.6% |
| Missouri River at St. Joseph, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Colorado River below Hoover Dam, flow (Hoover releases) · ft³/s | 5,170.00 | 2026-02-05 | -25.3% |
| Texas reservoirs, statewide percent full · % | 72.20 | 2026-10-19 | +0.0% |
| Laredo truck crossings, monthly · trucks | 258,700.00 | 2026-08-01 | -0.4% |
| Los Angeles + Long Beach container volume, annual · TEU | 10,513,167.00 | 2023-01-01 | -13.5% |
| Containerships waiting for a berth, all US ports · ships | 7.00 | 2026-10-13 | +133.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 101.91 | 2026-10-14 | +1.0% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.40 | 2026-10-15 | +0.0% |
| Housing starts, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,275.00 | 2026-08-01 | -2.6% |
| Building permits, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,403.00 | 2026-08-01 | -2.1% |
| Case-Shiller US home price index · index, Jan 2000 = 100 | 337.31 | 2026-07-01 | +0.1% |
| Unemployment rate · % | 4.20 | 2026-09-01 | +2.4% |
| US goods and services trade balance, monthly · $ millions | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| Retail sales excluding food services, monthly · $ millions | 652,115.00 | 2026-09-01 | +0.7% |
The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.
What changed #
Dawson County, GA: 15 findings, 4 at a watch level and 11 noted
watchDawson County, GA's years of wages of 10.0 ranks 80th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- test: yearsOfWages percentile = 97.41998693664272 >= 90
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level
watchDawson County, GA's typical home value is -0.4% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- test: home.yoyPct = -0.41805596820526136 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchDawson County, GA's covered employment is -0.2% against a year earlier, a watch level here: covered employment below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- test: jobs.yoy.emp = -0.2 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchDawson County, GA's years of wages is 10.0, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- test: yearsOfWages = 10.047134702891787 >= 10
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteDawson County, GA's average weekly wage was 2.5% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- +2.5 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
- the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published
Read all 12 findings in the full brief
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.