Kauai County, HI
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 22.01, -159.71.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 99th pct · 19th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
- 39th pct · 1,860th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
- 99th pct · 4th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
- 78th pct · 687th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
- 78th pct · 702nd of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
- 99th pct · 13th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
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 $1.0 m (Sep 2026), +1.9% over one year, +30.2% over five
- 99th pct · 19th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kauai County, HI | $1.0 m · +1.9% 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 $4,456/mo (Sep 2026), +13.0% over one year; price-to-rent 19.0
- 99th pct · 4th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kauai County, HI | $4,456/mo · +13.0% 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 $5,618 a month on $1,014,244 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,287 a month: 106.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $1.0 m × 80% = $811,395, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $5,618/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,220 × 52 / 12 = $5,287) = 106% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $1.0 m / ($1,220 × 52) = 16.0
- price-to-rent = $1.0 m / ($4,456 × 12) = 19.0
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 #
33,089 jobs at 3,564 employers (2026 Q1); -0.8% jobs and -0.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 78th pct · 687th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- Hawaii counties: Rank context is unavailable: 4 of Hawaii counties are in the table, fewer than the 5 a rank needs.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kauai County, HI | 33,089 jobs · $1,220/wk · -0.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 3,735 | $867 | 1.16 | +0.1% |
| Health care and social assistance | 2,655 | $1,387 | 0.53 | -2.1% |
| Real estate and rental | 651 | $1,339 | 1.28 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 479 | $1,503 | 0.38 | +0.2% |
| Finance and insurance | 417 | $1,538 | 0.31 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Transportation and warehousing | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld |
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 #
No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)
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 #
low (0.00)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$1.8 bn in deposits at 14 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,295, highly concentrated. $552.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $441.3 m, contracts $89.4 m), $16,702 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of Hawaii | $735.9 m · 41.9% share · 4 offices | |
| First Hawaiian Bank | $625.9 m · 35.7% share · 5 offices | |
| American Savings Bank, National Association | $260.6 m · 14.9% share · 2 offices | |
| Kauai, HI | $552.7 m FY2026 · $16,702/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $423.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of Hawaii | $735,901,000 | 41.9% | 4 |
| First Hawaiian Bank | $625,913,000 | 35.7% | 5 |
| American Savings Bank, National Association | $260,635,000 | 14.9% | 2 |
| Central Pacific Bank | $115,421,000 | 6.6% | 1 |
| Bank of Hope | $10,495,000 | 0.6% | 1 |
| Finance Factors, Ltd. | $6,472,000 | 0.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,295 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 = 41.9² + 35.7² + 14.9² + … (3 more) = 3,295
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 | $385,743,071 |
| Department of Defense | $86,114,493 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $38,454,048 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $14,932,893 |
| Department of Transportation | $13,999,946 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $8,134,382 |
| Department of Education | $1,930,691 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,830,160 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $871,056 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $273,168 |
| Department of Commerce | $190,313 |
| Department of the Interior | $146,684 |
That is $16,702 per covered job, against 33,089 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $552.7 m / 33,089 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $16,702
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 #
Kauai County, HI: 13 findings, 6 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchKauai County, HI's years of wages of 16.0 ranks 13th 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 = 99.60809928151535 >= 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
watchKauai County, HI's years of wages is 16.0, 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 = 15.987449564885559 >= 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
watchKauai County, HI's typical asking rent is +13.0% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 8 percent above a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; 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: rent.yoyPct = 12.957674147190337 >= 8
arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchKauai County, HI's covered employment is -0.8% 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 = -0.8 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchKauai County, HI's average weekly wage is -0.6% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -0.6 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
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.