Washington County, MD
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 39.60, -77.81.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 75th pct · 736th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 26th pct · 18th of 24 Maryland counties · median $417,647
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 25th pct · 2,286th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 34th pct · 16th of 24 Maryland counties · median +0.8%
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 44th pct · 754th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 14th pct · 19th of 22 Maryland counties · median $1,875
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 87th pct · 407th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 65th pct · 9th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 68th pct · 1,007th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 39th pct · 15th of 24 Maryland counties · median $1,216
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 73rd pct · 800th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 39th pct · 15th of 24 Maryland counties · median 5.8
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $327,924 (Sep 2026), +0.5% over one year, +21.0% over five
- 75th pct · 736th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 26th pct · 18th of 24 Maryland counties · median $417,647
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Washington County, MD | $327,924 · +0.5% 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 $1,442/mo (Sep 2026), +2.5% over one year; price-to-rent 19.0
- 44th pct · 754th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 14th pct · 19th of 22 Maryland counties · median $1,875
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Washington County, MD | $1,442/mo · +2.5% 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 $1,816 a month on $327,924 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,931 a month: 36.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $327,924 × 80% = $262,339, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,816/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,138 × 52 / 12 = $4,931) = 37% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $327,924 / ($1,138 × 52) = 5.5
- price-to-rent = $327,924 / ($1,442 × 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 #
67,595 jobs at 3,790 employers (2026 Q1); +4.7% jobs and -0.3% average weekly wage over the year
- 87th pct · 407th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 65th pct · 9th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
- counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Washington County, MD | 67,595 jobs · $1,138/wk · +4.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 9,730 | $760 | 1.48 | +1.8% |
| Health care and social assistance | 9,686 | $1,327 | 0.95 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 7,876 | $933 | 2.76 | +51.3% |
| Manufacturing | 6,469 | $1,524 | 1.19 | -2.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 5,439 | $479 | 0.90 | +9.7% |
| Administrative and waste services | 3,702 | $850 | 0.96 | -0.2% |
| Other services | 2,586 | $878 | 1.28 | -6.8% |
| Finance and insurance | 2,034 | $1,985 | 0.74 | -0.1% |
| Professional and technical services | 1,794 | $1,268 | 0.38 | -6.4% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,791 | $1,733 | 0.69 | +0.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,016 | $461 | 0.91 | +5.9% |
| Management of companies | 773 | $2,935 | 0.68 | +0.9% |
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 #
$3.4 bn in deposits at 40 offices of 13 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,389, moderately concentrated. $1.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $914.1 m, contracts $175.6 m), $17,327 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Fulton Bank, National Association | $629.4 m · 18.5% share · 4 offices | |
| Middletown Valley Bank | $596.1 m · 17.5% share · 3 offices | |
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | $577.9 m · 16.9% share · 9 offices | |
| Washington, MD | $1.2 bn FY2026 · $17,327/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $879.8 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulton Bank, National Association | $629,374,000 | 18.5% | 4 |
| Middletown Valley Bank | $596,096,000 | 17.5% | 3 |
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | $577,918,000 | 16.9% | 9 |
| Truist Bank | $544,728,000 | 16.0% | 5 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $371,591,000 | 10.9% | 3 |
| First United Bank & Trust | $193,003,000 | 5.7% | 5 |
| CNB Bank, Inc. | $178,395,000 | 5.2% | 4 |
| United Bank | $128,467,000 | 3.8% | 2 |
| Orrstown Bank | $77,867,000 | 2.3% | 1 |
| Farmers and Merchants Trust Company of Chambersburg | $50,784,000 | 1.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,389 across 13 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 13 banks with deposits in the county = 18.5² + 17.5² + 16.9² + … (10 more) = 1,389
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 | $783,030,227 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $123,037,986 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $92,358,428 |
| Department of Transportation | $65,128,153 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $29,374,586 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $26,435,713 |
| Department of Defense | $16,166,372 |
| Department of the Interior | $10,376,770 |
| Department of Education | $7,321,375 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $6,259,611 |
| Department of Agriculture | $4,853,895 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $3,162,350 |
That is $17,327 per covered job, against 67,595 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $1.2 bn / 67,595 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,327
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 #
Washington County, MD: 12 findings, 4 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchWashington County, MD's average weekly wage is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchWashington County, MD's typical home value of $327,924 scores 76 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 26 across Maryland counties, a gap of 50 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 50 = |76 across US counties - 26 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchWashington County, MD's years of wages of 5.5 scores 74 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 39 across Maryland counties, a gap of 35 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 35 = |74 across US counties - 39 across Maryland counties|
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchWashington County, MD's typical asking rent of $1,442 scores 45 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 14 across Maryland counties, a gap of 30 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 30 = |45 across US counties - 14 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteWashington County, MD's covered employment was 4.7% 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
- +4.7 % = 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.