Pierce County, WA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 47.05, -122.15.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 95th pct · 138th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 76th pct · 10th of 39 Washington counties · median $428,499
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 22nd pct · 2,371st of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 44th pct · 22nd of 39 Washington counties · median +0.2%
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 81st pct · 256th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 65th pct · 10th of 27 Washington counties · median $1,705
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 97th pct · 91st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 97th pct · 2nd of 39 Washington counties · median 18,771
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 91st pct · 275th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 84th pct · 7th of 39 Washington counties · median $1,237
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 90th pct · 279th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 68th pct · 13th of 39 Washington counties · median 6.7
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 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 $559,277 (Sep 2026), +0.2% over one year, +10.5% over five
- 95th pct · 138th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 76th pct · 10th of 39 Washington counties · median $428,499
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pierce County, WA | $559,277 · +0.2% 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 $1,955/mo (Sep 2026), +2.0% over one year; price-to-rent 23.8
- 81st pct · 256th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 65th pct · 10th of 27 Washington counties · median $1,705
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pierce County, WA | $1,955/mo · +2.0% 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 $3,098 a month on $559,277 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,322 a month: 49.0% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $559,277 × 80% = $447,421, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $3,098/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,459 × 52 / 12 = $6,322) = 49% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $559,277 / ($1,459 × 52) = 7.4
- price-to-rent = $559,277 / ($1,955 × 12) = 23.8
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 #
335,321 jobs at 21,215 employers (2026 Q1); +0.1% jobs and +4.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 97th pct · 91st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 97th pct · 2nd of 39 Washington counties · median 18,771
- counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pierce County, WA | 335,321 jobs · $1,459/wk · +0.1% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 60,493 | $1,522 | 1.20 | +4.2% |
| Retail trade | 34,776 | $1,004 | 1.06 | -2.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 29,032 | $620 | 0.96 | +1.6% |
| Construction | 24,175 | $1,629 | 1.38 | +3.9% |
| Administrative and waste services | 22,863 | $1,266 | 1.20 | -5.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 21,967 | $1,309 | 1.55 | -0.2% |
| Manufacturing | 15,484 | $1,681 | 0.57 | -2.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 13,573 | $1,889 | 0.59 | -2.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 12,535 | $1,777 | 0.98 | -4.9% |
| Other services | 11,299 | $987 | 1.13 | +4.1% |
| Finance and insurance | 7,113 | $2,877 | 0.52 | -8.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 5,653 | $1,712 | 1.10 | -0.3% |
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 #
$18.8 bn in deposits at 125 offices of 22 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,653, moderately concentrated. $7.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $5.6 bn, grants $1.0 bn), $21,536 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia Bank | $6.1 bn · 32.5% share · 17 offices | |
| Bank of America, National Association | $2.6 bn · 14.0% share · 12 offices | |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $2.0 bn · 10.5% share · 12 offices | |
| Pierce, WA | $7.2 bn FY2026 · $21,536/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $5.3 bn · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Bank | $6,110,887,000 | 32.5% | 17 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $2,626,596,000 | 14.0% | 12 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $1,978,619,000 | 10.5% | 12 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1,865,734,000 | 9.9% | 11 |
| KeyBank National Association | $1,604,063,000 | 8.5% | 21 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $1,377,053,000 | 7.3% | 13 |
| Heritage Bank | $1,325,321,000 | 7.1% | 11 |
| Timberland Bank | $397,461,000 | 2.1% | 6 |
| Commencement Bank | $339,666,000 | 1.8% | 3 |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $195,813,000 | 1.0% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 1,653 across 22 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 22 banks with deposits in the county = 32.5² + 14.0² + 10.5² + … (19 more) = 1,653
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 | $4,052,848,640 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $1,277,107,455 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $781,701,596 |
| Department of Defense | $366,846,396 |
| Department of Transportation | $312,633,290 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $161,706,535 |
| Department of Education | $75,138,399 |
| Department of the Interior | $60,754,749 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $45,906,677 |
| General Services Administration | $34,551,007 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $20,208,278 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $11,381,417 |
That is $21,536 per covered job, against 335,321 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $7.2 bn / 335,321 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $21,536
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 #
Pierce County, WA: 11 findings, 2 at a watch level and 9 noted
watchPierce County, WA's years of wages of 7.4 ranks 279th 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 = 90.92096668843894 >= 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
watchPierce County, WA's price-to-rent ratio of 23.8 ranks 129th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; 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: priceToRent percentile = 90.56742815033162 >= 90
- typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level
notePierce County, WA's average weekly wage was 4.1% 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
- +4.1 % = 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
notePierce County, WA's covered employment was 0.1% 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
- +0.1 % = 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
notePierce County, WA's covered employment of 335,321 ranks 2nd of 39 Washington counties, against a median of 18,771.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 97 on the 0-to-100 scale across 39 Washington counties that published jobs.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 11 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.