James City County, VA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 37.32, -76.78.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 92nd pct · 224th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 88th pct · 16th of 133 Virginia counties · median $309,231
- 94th pct · 2nd of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $385,676
- 37th pct · 1,924th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 25th pct · 99th of 133 Virginia counties · median +2.8%
- 23rd pct · 14th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median +2.5%
- 88th pct · 151st of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 85th pct · 11th of 71 Virginia counties · median $1,806
- 100th pct · 1st of 13 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $2,050
- 77th pct · 725th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 78th pct · 29th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 58th pct · 8th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median 18,007
- 60th pct · 1,272nd of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 54th pct · 61st of 133 Virginia counties · median $1,048
- 41st pct · 11th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $1,158
- 94th pct · 164th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 92nd pct · 11th of 133 Virginia counties · median 5.4
- 88th pct · 3rd of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median 6.8
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 $484,205 (Sep 2026), +1.8% over one year, +28.5% over five
- 92nd pct · 224th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 88th pct · 16th of 133 Virginia counties · median $309,231
- 94th pct · 2nd of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $385,676
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| James City County, VA | $484,205 · +1.8% 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 $2,160/mo (Sep 2026), +5.6% over one year; price-to-rent 18.7
- 88th pct · 151st of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 85th pct · 11th of 71 Virginia counties · median $1,806
- 100th pct · 1st of 13 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $2,050
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| James City County, VA | $2,160/mo · +5.6% 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 $2,682 a month on $484,205 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,723 a month: 56.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $484,205 × 80% = $387,364, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,682/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,090 × 52 / 12 = $4,723) = 57% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $484,205 / ($1,090 × 52) = 8.5
- price-to-rent = $484,205 / ($2,160 × 12) = 18.7
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 #
29,705 jobs at 2,309 employers (2026 Q1); -0.4% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 77th pct · 725th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 78th pct · 29th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 58th pct · 8th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median 18,007
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| James City County, VA | 29,705 jobs · $1,090/wk · -0.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 4,564 | $1,196 | 1.02 | +0.2% |
| Retail trade | 3,692 | $599 | 1.28 | +4.9% |
| Accommodation and food services | 2,890 | $564 | 1.08 | -2.7% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 2,642 | $385 | 5.40 | -1.3% |
| Manufacturing | 1,675 | $1,768 | 0.70 | +0.1% |
| Professional and technical services | 1,616 | $1,540 | 0.79 | -6.9% |
| Construction | 1,586 | $1,309 | 1.02 | -2.7% |
| Administrative and waste services | 1,290 | $1,020 | 0.76 | -4.7% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 1,104 | $1,077 | 0.88 | -4.7% |
| Other services | 979 | $882 | 1.10 | +2.6% |
| Real estate and rental | 718 | $1,390 | 1.58 | -12.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 529 | $2,783 | 0.44 | -6.7% |
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 #
$2.3 bn in deposits at 15 offices of 9 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,810, highly concentrated. $863.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $820.5 m, grants $21.4 m), $29,078 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| TowneBank | $698.7 m · 30.6% share · 1 office | |
| Truist Bank | $431.9 m · 18.9% share · 3 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $329.3 m · 14.4% share · 1 office | |
| James (City), VA | $863.8 m FY2026 · $29,078/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $816.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| TowneBank | $698,694,000 | 30.6% | 1 |
| Truist Bank | $431,914,000 | 18.9% | 3 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $329,335,000 | 14.4% | 1 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $295,003,000 | 12.9% | 1 |
| Chesapeake Bank | $183,327,000 | 8.0% | 4 |
| Citizens and Farmers Bank | $173,812,000 | 7.6% | 2 |
| Atlantic Union Bank | $91,440,000 | 4.0% | 1 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $41,724,000 | 1.8% | 1 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $40,412,000 | 1.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,810 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 30.6² + 18.9² + 14.4² + … (6 more) = 1,810
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 | $603,663,002 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $225,009,165 |
| Department of Transportation | $16,021,712 |
| Department of Defense | $5,058,320 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $4,258,762 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $2,675,769 |
| Department of the Interior | $2,377,328 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,142,845 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $1,235,078 |
| General Services Administration | $500,000 |
| Department of Energy | $351,366 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $185,626 |
That is $29,078 per covered job, against 29,705 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $863.8 m / 29,705 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $29,078
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 #
James City County, VA: 12 findings, 2 at a watch level and 10 noted
watchJames City County, VA's years of wages of 8.5 ranks 164th 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 = 94.67668190725016 >= 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
watchJames City County, VA's covered employment is -0.4% 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 = -0.4 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteJames City County, VA's average weekly wage was 4.4% 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
- +4.4 % = 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
noteJames City County, VA's typical asking rent fell 0.5% from $2,171 in August 2026 to $2,160 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- -0.5% = (2159.611563202356 - 2171.0947203441797) / 2171.0947203441797 × 100
- 2159.611563202356 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
- 2171.0947203441797 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
noteJames City County, VA's covered employment was 0.4% 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
- -0.4 % = 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
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.