Benton County, WA

Home values #

Typical home $446,007 (Sep 2026), +0.4% over one year, +14.6% over five

• 90th pct · 293rd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 52nd pct · 19th of 39 Washington counties · median $428,499
• counties in the Kennewick-Richland metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Kennewick-Richland metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,691/mo (Sep 2026), -0.1% over one year; price-to-rent 22.0

• 64th pct · 480th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 42nd pct · 16th of 27 Washington counties · median $1,705
• counties in the Kennewick-Richland metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Kennewick-Richland metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $2,470 a month on $446,007 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,413 a month: 38.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $446,007 × 80% = $356,805, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,470/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,480 × 52 / 12 = $6,413) = 39% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $446,007 / ($1,480 × 52) = 5.8
• price-to-rent = $446,007 / ($1,691 × 12) = 22.0

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 #

97,015 jobs at 5,436 employers (2026 Q1); -0.5% jobs and +4.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 90th pct · 308th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 81st pct · 8th of 39 Washington counties · median 18,771
• counties in the Kennewick-Richland metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Kennewick-Richland metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

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 #

34 gauges · 0 flooding · 12 with quality panels averaging 94 % · 23 stale

Sites found: 34, 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 #

2 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 2, 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 + 0.2×0.06 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$3.0 bn in deposits at 32 offices of 16 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,410, moderately concentrated. $5.8 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (contracts $4.5 bn, direct payments $1.2 bn), $59,401 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,410 across 16 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 16 banks with deposits in the county = 24.0² + 18.0² + 13.1² + … (13 more) = 1,410

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 $59,401 per covered job, against 97,015 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $5.8 bn / 97,015 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $59,401

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 #

Benton County, WA: 14 findings, 5 at a watch level and 9 noted

1. watchBenton County, WA's covered employment is -0.5% 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 = -0.5 < 0

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

2. watchBenton County, WA's years of wages of 5.8 scores 77 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 26 across Washington counties, a gap of 51 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 51 = |77 across US counties - 26 across Washington 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

3. watchBenton County, WA's price-to-rent ratio of 22.0 scores 84 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 42 across Washington counties, a gap of 42 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 42 = |84 across US counties - 42 across Washington counties|
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

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

4. watchBenton County, WA's typical home value of $446,007 scores 90 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 53 across Washington counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |90 across US counties - 53 across Washington counties|

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

5. watchBenton County, WA's typical home value of +0.4% scores 25 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 55 across Washington counties, a gap of 31 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 31 = |25 across US counties - 55 across Washington 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.