Barnstable County, MA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.71, -70.16.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 98th pct · 54th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 69th pct · 5th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $681,406
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 50th pct · 1,509th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 61st pct · 6th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median +2.7%
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 94th pct · 69th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 54th pct · 6th of 12 Massachusetts counties · median $2,499
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 89th pct · 346th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 38th pct · 9th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 194,940
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 87th pct · 400th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 38th pct · 9th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $1,471
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 98th pct · 58th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 84th pct · 3rd of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 7.4
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town 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 $757,449 (Sep 2026), +2.9% over one year, +29.5% over five
- 98th pct · 54th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 69th pct · 5th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $681,406
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Barnstable County, MA | $757,449 · +2.9% 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 $2,578/mo (Sep 2026), +2.1% over one year; price-to-rent 24.5
- 94th pct · 69th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 54th pct · 6th of 12 Massachusetts counties · median $2,499
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Barnstable County, MA | $2,578/mo · +2.1% 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 $4,196 a month on $757,449 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,846 a month: 71.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $757,449 × 80% = $605,959, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $4,196/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,349 × 52 / 12 = $5,846) = 72% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $757,449 / ($1,349 × 52) = 10.8
- price-to-rent = $757,449 / ($2,578 × 12) = 24.5
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 #
84,915 jobs at 9,872 employers (2026 Q1); -1.7% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 89th pct · 346th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 38th pct · 9th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 194,940
- counties in the Barnstable Town metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Barnstable Town metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Barnstable County, MA | 84,915 jobs · $1,349/wk · -1.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 15,614 | $1,427 | 1.22 | +1.3% |
| Retail trade | 12,979 | $855 | 1.57 | -2.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 10,205 | $702 | 1.34 | -5.9% |
| Construction | 6,650 | $1,548 | 1.49 | -3.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 4,568 | $1,796 | 0.78 | +0.9% |
| Administrative and waste services | 3,282 | $1,201 | 0.68 | -6.0% |
| Other services | 3,160 | $1,005 | 1.25 | -1.8% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 2,119 | $1,035 | 1.52 | +2.2% |
| Finance and insurance | 2,088 | $3,415 | 0.60 | -2.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 1,959 | $1,211 | 0.55 | +2.9% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,586 | $1,742 | 0.49 | -4.2% |
| Real estate and rental | 1,042 | $1,218 | 0.80 | -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 #
$11.8 bn in deposits at 86 offices of 11 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,697, moderately concentrated. $3.5 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $2.2 bn, grants $1.2 bn), $41,528 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank | $3.8 bn · 32.4% share · 17 offices | |
| TD Bank, National Association | $1.5 bn · 12.8% share · 8 offices | |
| Rockland Trust Company | $1.4 bn · 12.2% share · 12 offices | |
| Barnstable, MA | $3.5 bn FY2026 · $41,528/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $2.1 bn · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank | $3,813,468,000 | 32.4% | 17 |
| TD Bank, National Association | $1,504,653,000 | 12.8% | 8 |
| Rockland Trust Company | $1,438,931,000 | 12.2% | 12 |
| Cape & Coast Bank | $1,397,896,000 | 11.9% | 11 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $1,059,166,000 | 9.0% | 5 |
| Citizens Bank, National Association | $909,035,000 | 7.7% | 11 |
| Eastern Bank | $570,026,000 | 4.8% | 5 |
| Santander Bank, N.A. | $509,797,000 | 4.3% | 6 |
| Seamen's Bank | $405,378,000 | 3.4% | 5 |
| Martha's Vineyard Bank | $124,156,000 | 1.1% | 3 |
Deposit concentration is 1,697 across 11 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 11 banks with deposits in the county = 32.4² + 12.8² + 12.2² + … (8 more) = 1,697
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 | $2,000,162,025 |
| Department of Transportation | $998,249,706 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $133,391,994 |
| Department of Defense | $112,157,321 |
| National Science Foundation | $105,102,855 |
| Department of Commerce | $62,580,463 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $40,861,131 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $20,721,783 |
| Department of the Interior | $13,149,468 |
| Department of Education | $11,908,010 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $9,190,160 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $7,772,727 |
That is $41,528 per covered job, against 84,915 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $3.5 bn / 84,915 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $41,528
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 #
Barnstable County, MA: 15 findings, 7 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchBarnstable County, MA's years of wages of 10.8 ranks 58th 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 = 98.13847158719791 >= 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
watchBarnstable County, MA's price-to-rent ratio of 24.5 ranks 113th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; 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: priceToRent percentile = 91.74649963154016 >= 90
- typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level
watchBarnstable County, MA's covered employment is -1.7% 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 = -1.7 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchBarnstable County, MA's years of wages is 10.8, 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 = 10.7978744787703 >= 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
watchBarnstable County, MA's covered employment of 84,915 scores 89 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 38 across Massachusetts counties, a gap of 51 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 51 = |89 across US counties - 38 across Massachusetts counties|
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.