Wicomico County, MD
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.37, -75.63.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 63rd pct · 1,129th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 17th pct · 20th of 24 Maryland counties · median $417,647
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 31st pct · 2,092nd of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 69th pct · 8th of 24 Maryland counties · median +0.8%
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 60th pct · 541st of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 19th pct · 18th of 22 Maryland counties · median $1,875
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 83rd pct · 527th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 56th pct · 11th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 60th pct · 1,285th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 21st pct · 19th of 24 Maryland counties · median $1,216
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 61st pct · 1,165th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 26th pct · 18th of 24 Maryland counties · median 5.8
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury 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 $271,722 (Sep 2026), +1.2% over one year, +24.4% over five
- 63rd pct · 1,129th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 17th pct · 20th of 24 Maryland counties · median $417,647
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wicomico County, MD | $271,722 · +1.2% 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 $1,626/mo (Sep 2026), +1.8% over one year; price-to-rent 13.9
- 60th pct · 541st of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 19th pct · 18th of 22 Maryland counties · median $1,875
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wicomico County, MD | $1,626/mo · +1.8% 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 $1,505 a month on $271,722 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,715 a month: 31.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $271,722 × 80% = $217,377, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,505/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,088 × 52 / 12 = $4,715) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $271,722 / ($1,088 × 52) = 4.8
- price-to-rent = $271,722 / ($1,626 × 12) = 13.9
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 #
47,718 jobs at 2,702 employers (2026 Q1); +3.3% jobs and +0.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 83rd pct · 527th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 56th pct · 11th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wicomico County, MD | 47,718 jobs · $1,088/wk · +3.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 11,194 | $1,222 | 1.56 | +12.3% |
| Retail trade | 6,135 | $769 | 1.32 | +2.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 4,689 | $495 | 1.09 | +1.1% |
| Manufacturing | 2,803 | $1,129 | 0.73 | -2.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 1,886 | $914 | 0.70 | +2.9% |
| Other services | 1,712 | $853 | 1.20 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,409 | $1,377 | 0.77 | -8.3% |
| Professional and technical services | 1,317 | $1,462 | 0.40 | -1.6% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 1,116 | $1,234 | 0.55 | -4.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 929 | $1,753 | 0.48 | -0.5% |
| Management of companies | 722 | $2,665 | 0.90 | +3.4% |
| Real estate and rental | 539 | $1,105 | 0.74 | -2.5% |
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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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 #
$2.3 bn in deposits at 33 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,369, moderately concentrated. $634.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $594.1 m, grants $36.8 m), $13,293 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hebron Savings Bank | $401.7 m · 17.4% share · 7 offices | |
| Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Company | $371.2 m · 16.0% share · 7 offices | |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $363.0 m · 15.7% share · 3 offices | |
| Wicomico, MD | $634.3 m FY2026 · $13,293/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $557.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hebron Savings Bank | $401,699,000 | 17.4% | 7 |
| Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Company | $371,213,000 | 16.0% | 7 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $362,956,000 | 15.7% | 3 |
| The Farmers Bank of Willards | $339,683,000 | 14.7% | 5 |
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | $271,793,000 | 11.7% | 3 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $262,465,000 | 11.3% | 2 |
| First Shore Federal Savings and Loan Association | $162,357,000 | 7.0% | 2 |
| Truist Bank | $134,547,000 | 5.8% | 1 |
| Woodforest National Bank | $7,892,000 | 0.3% | 2 |
| Wilmington Trust, National Association | $0 | 0.0% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,369 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 17.4² + 16.0² + 15.7² + … (6 more) = 1,369
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 | $499,504,151 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $56,685,433 |
| Department of Education | $20,850,023 |
| Department of Transportation | $19,805,324 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $15,278,855 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $11,096,933 |
| Department of Agriculture | $5,297,422 |
| Department of Defense | $3,943,308 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,372,421 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $566,061 |
| Department of the Interior | $436,639 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $72,836 |
That is $13,293 per covered job, against 47,718 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $634.3 m / 47,718 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $13,293
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 #
Wicomico County, MD: 13 findings, 5 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchWicomico County, MD's typical home value of $271,722 scores 63 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 17 across Maryland counties, a gap of 46 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 46 = |63 across US counties - 17 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchWicomico County, MD's typical asking rent of $1,626 scores 60 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 19 across Maryland counties, a gap of 41 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 41 = |60 across US counties - 19 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchWicomico County, MD's average weekly wage of $1,088 scores 60 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 22 across Maryland counties, a gap of 38 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 38 = |60 across US counties - 22 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchWicomico County, MD's typical home value of +1.2% scores 32 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 70 across Maryland counties, a gap of 38 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 38 = |32 across US counties - 70 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchWicomico County, MD's years of wages of 4.8 scores 62 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 26 across Maryland counties, a gap of 36 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 36 = |62 across US counties - 26 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
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.