Somerset County, NJ

Home values #

Typical home $656,346 (Sep 2026), +2.7% over one year, +31.9% over five

• 97th pct · 84th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 75th pct · 6th of 21 New Jersey counties · median $579,852
• 42nd pct · 13th of 22 counties in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro · median $680,195

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 $2,618/mo (Sep 2026), +2.1% over one year; price-to-rent 20.9

• 95th pct · 62nd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 80th pct · 5th of 21 New Jersey counties · median $2,291
• 38th pct · 14th of 22 counties in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro · median $2,825

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 $3,636 a month on $656,346 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $12,346 a month: 29.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $656,346 × 80% = $525,077, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $3,636/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $2,849 × 52 / 12 = $12,346) = 29% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $656,346 / ($2,849 × 52) = 4.4
• price-to-rent = $656,346 / ($2,618 × 12) = 20.9

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 #

186,950 jobs at 11,504 employers (2026 Q1); -2.8% jobs and +5.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 94th pct · 176th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 45th pct · 12th of 21 New Jersey counties · median 188,702
• 28th pct · 16th of 22 counties in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro · median 283,785

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 #

7 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 7, 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 #

323 gauges · 0 flooding · 136 with quality panels averaging 95 % · 146 stale

Sites found: 323, 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 #

301 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 301, 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 (0.02)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.05 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$16.4 bn in deposits at 93 offices of 20 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,143, moderately concentrated. $2.3 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.8 bn, contracts $477.0 m), $12,520 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,143 across 20 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 20 banks with deposits in the county = 17.9² + 16.4² + 12.6² + … (17 more) = 1,143

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.

That is $12,520 per covered job, against 186,950 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $2.3 bn / 186,950 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $12,520

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.

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 #

Somerset County, NJ: 20 findings, 3 at a watch level and 17 noted

1. watchSomerset County, NJ's covered employment is -2.8% 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 = -2.8 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. watchSomerset County, NJ's covered employment of 186,950 scores 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 45 across New Jersey counties, a gap of 50 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 50 = |95 across US counties - 45 across New Jersey counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

3. watchSomerset County, NJ's years of wages of 4.4 scores 54 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 10 across New Jersey counties, a gap of 44 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 44 = |54 across US counties - 10 across New Jersey 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

4. noteSomerset County, NJ's average weekly wage was 5.4% 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

   • +5.4 % = 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

5. noteSomerset County, NJ's covered employment was 2.8% lower 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

   • -2.8 % = 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.