Durham County, NC
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 36.03, -78.88.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 84th pct · 476th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 79th pct · 21st of 100 North Carolina counties · median $270,749
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 5th pct · 2,888th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 1st pct · 99th of 100 North Carolina counties · median +1.1%
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 59th pct · 546th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 55th pct · 28th of 62 North Carolina counties · median $1,550
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 95th pct · 145th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 96th pct · 4th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 99th pct · 28th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 100th pct · 1st of 100 North Carolina counties · median $984
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 29th pct · 2,154th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 15th pct · 85th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 5.0
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill 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 $384,848 (Sep 2026), -3.7% over one year, +15.9% over five
- 84th pct · 476th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 79th pct · 21st of 100 North Carolina counties · median $270,749
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Durham County, NC | $384,848 · -3.7% 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 $1,622/mo (Sep 2026), +3.1% over one year; price-to-rent 19.8
- 59th pct · 546th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 55th pct · 28th of 62 North Carolina counties · median $1,550
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Durham County, NC | $1,622/mo · +3.1% 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 $2,132 a month on $384,848 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $9,577 a month: 22.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $384,848 × 80% = $307,878, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,132/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $2,210 × 52 / 12 = $9,577) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $384,848 / ($2,210 × 52) = 3.3
- price-to-rent = $384,848 / ($1,622 × 12) = 19.8
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 #
229,935 jobs at 11,764 employers (2026 Q1); -1.5% jobs and +5.7% average weekly wage over the year
- 95th pct · 145th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 96th pct · 4th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739
- counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Durham County, NC | 229,935 jobs · $2,210/wk · -1.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 41,156 | $1,563 | 1.19 | +2.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 31,525 | $3,472 | 1.99 | -7.4% |
| Educational services | 21,876 | $2,235 | 4.42 | -5.1% |
| Manufacturing | 21,418 | $3,728 | 1.16 | -3.9% |
| Accommodation and food services | 15,816 | $555 | 0.77 | +3.3% |
| Retail trade | 14,049 | $872 | 0.63 | +0.5% |
| Administrative and waste services | 11,430 | $1,129 | 0.87 | -3.6% |
| Finance and insurance | 9,671 | $3,700 | 1.03 | -2.9% |
| Wholesale trade | 8,821 | $3,068 | 1.00 | +8.2% |
| Management of companies | 5,761 | $4,572 | 1.50 | -3.5% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 5,503 | $938 | 0.57 | -1.3% |
| Other services | 5,463 | $1,179 | 0.80 | +0.4% |
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 #
D1 moderate drought
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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$13.1 bn in deposits at 50 offices of 14 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,250, highly concentrated. $6.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $4.2 bn, contracts $1.1 bn), $27,027 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Banc of California | $7.1 bn · 53.9% share · 1 office | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1.7 bn · 12.6% share · 8 offices | |
| Truist Bank | $1.4 bn · 10.6% share · 8 offices | |
| Durham, NC | $6.2 bn FY2026 · $27,027/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $4.1 bn · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banc of California | $7,086,299,000 | 53.9% | 1 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1,660,578,000 | 12.6% | 8 |
| Truist Bank | $1,386,991,000 | 10.6% | 8 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $759,423,000 | 5.8% | 5 |
| First Horizon Bank | $532,611,000 | 4.1% | 6 |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $344,089,000 | 2.6% | 4 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $277,819,000 | 2.1% | 3 |
| Mechanics & Farmers Bank | $274,200,000 | 2.1% | 3 |
| First National Bank of Pennsylvania | $237,098,000 | 1.8% | 4 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $201,903,000 | 1.5% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 3,250 across 14 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 14 banks with deposits in the county = 53.9² + 12.6² + 10.6² + … (11 more) = 3,250
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 |
|---|---|
| Department of Health and Human Services | $3,776,396,202 |
| Social Security Administration | $1,350,698,033 |
| General Services Administration | $288,386,591 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $245,524,371 |
| Department of Education | $91,217,605 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $72,728,963 |
| Department of Defense | $71,325,726 |
| National Science Foundation | $63,386,572 |
| Department of Justice | $59,304,850 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $57,361,630 |
| Agency for International Development | $44,233,311 |
| Department of Transportation | $27,097,358 |
That is $27,027 per covered job, against 229,935 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $6.2 bn / 229,935 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,027
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 #
Durham County, NC: 15 findings, 2 at a watch level and 13 noted
watchDurham County, NC's typical home value is -3.7% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -3.7026258569473947 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchDurham County, NC's covered employment is -1.5% 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 = -1.5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteDurham County, NC's average weekly wage was 5.7% 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
- +5.7 % = 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
noteDurham County, NC's covered employment was 1.5% 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
- -1.5 % = 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
noteDurham County, NC's typical home value fell 0.5% from $386,684 in August 2026 to $384,848 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- -0.5% = (384847.81323396537 - 386684.2490625872) / 386684.2490625872 × 100
- 384847.81323396537 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 386684.2490625872 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
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.