Kings County, NY

Home values #

Typical home $962,988 (Sep 2026), +5.3% over one year, +14.7% over five

• 99th pct · 23rd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 98th pct · 2nd of 62 New York counties · median $254,056
• 95th pct · 2nd 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 $3,858/mo (Sep 2026), +5.2% over one year; price-to-rent 20.8

• 99th pct · 8th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 97th pct · 2nd of 49 New York counties · median $1,521
• 95th pct · 2nd 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 $5,334 a month on $962,988 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,265 a month: 101.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $962,988 × 80% = $770,390, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $5,334/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,215 × 52 / 12 = $5,265) = 101% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $962,988 / ($1,215 × 52) = 15.2
• price-to-rent = $962,988 / ($3,858 × 12) = 20.8

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 #

926,187 jobs at 75,396 employers (2026 Q1); -5.0% jobs and +7.7% average weekly wage over the year

• 99th pct · 17th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 98th pct · 2nd of 62 New York counties · median 32,139
• 95th pct · 2nd 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 #

1 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 1, 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 #

240 gauges · 0 flooding · 84 with quality panels averaging 84 % · 99 stale

Sites found: 240, 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 #

293 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 293, 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 (0.06)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.16 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$68.3 bn in deposits at 331 offices of 41 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,968, highly concentrated. $9.7 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $9.0 bn, grants $345.1 m), $10,428 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,968 across 41 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 41 banks with deposits in the county = 40.3² + 11.7² + 9.3² + … (38 more) = 1,968

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 $10,428 per covered job, against 926,187 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $9.7 bn / 926,187 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $10,428

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 #

Kings County, NY: 25 findings, 1 at an alert level, 5 at a watch level and 19 noted

1. alertKings County, NY's covered employment is -5.0% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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.emp = -5 <= -3

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchKings County, NY's years of wages of 15.2 ranks 16th 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 = 99.51012410189418 >= 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

3. watchKings County, NY's years of wages is 15.2, 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 = 15.241971166894668 >= 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

4. watchKings County, NY's covered employment is -5.0% 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 = -5 < 0

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

5. watchKings County, NY's average weekly wage of $1,215 scores 78 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 41 across New York counties, a gap of 37 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 37 = |78 across US counties - 41 across New York 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.