Beaufort County, NC

Home values #

Typical home $235,091 (Sep 2026), +1.6% over one year, +33.9% over five

• 51st pct · 1,489th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 36th pct · 64th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $270,749

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 $1,314/mo (Sep 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 14.9

• 32nd pct · 923rd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 16th pct · 52nd of 62 North Carolina counties · median $1,550

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 $1,302 a month on $235,091 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,489 a month: 29.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $235,091 × 80% = $188,073, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,302/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,036 × 52 / 12 = $4,489) = 29% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $235,091 / ($1,036 × 52) = 4.4
• price-to-rent = $235,091 / ($1,314 × 12) = 14.9

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 #

16,332 jobs at 1,352 employers (2026 Q1); +0.9% jobs and +4.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 66th pct · 1,068th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 49th pct · 51st of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739

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 #

2 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 2, 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 #

40 gauges · 0 flooding · 3 with quality panels averaging 96 % · 26 stale

Sites found: 40, 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 #

8 wells in 1 named aquifer: Surficial aquifer system

Sites found: 8, 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 + 0.2×0.04 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$852.8 m in deposits at 9 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,864, highly concentrated. $433.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $410.8 m, grants $20.2 m), $26,565 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,864 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 26.5² + 20.4² + 18.7² + … (3 more) = 1,864

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 $26,565 per covered job, against 16,332 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $433.9 m / 16,332 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $26,565

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 #

Beaufort County, NC: 6 findings, 6 noted

1. noteBeaufort County, NC's average weekly wage was 4.8% 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

   • +4.8 % = 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

2. noteBeaufort County, NC's covered employment was 0.9% 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

   • +0.9 % = 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

3. noteBeaufort County, NC's typical asking rent rose 0.3% from $1,309 in August 2026 to $1,314 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (1313.611111111111 - 1309.3721310080368) / 1309.3721310080368 × 100
   • 1313.611111111111 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
   • 1309.3721310080368 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

4. noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Beaufort County, NC is due between 2026-10-30 and 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

   Show the arithmetic

   • window = 2026-10-30 to 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

   estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

5. noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Beaufort County, NC is due between 2026-11-14 and 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

   Show the arithmetic

   • window = 2026-11-14 to 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

   estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

Read all 6 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.