Chilton County, AL

Home values #

Typical home $226,236 (Aug 2026), +6.0% over one year, +21.0% over five

• 46th pct · 1,635th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 74th pct · 18th of 67 Alabama counties · median $183,308
• 50th pct · 4th of 7 counties in the Birmingham metro · median $226,236

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 $1,388/mo (Aug 2026), +3.1% over one year; price-to-rent 13.6

• 40th pct · 839th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 60th pct · 12th of 29 Alabama counties · median $1,362
• 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Birmingham metro · median $1,378

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 $1,238 a month on $226,236 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,099 a month: 30.2% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $226,236 × 80% = $180,989, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,238/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $946 × 52 / 12 = $4,099) = 30% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $226,236 / ($946 × 52) = 4.6
• price-to-rent = $226,236 / ($1,388 × 12) = 13.6

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 #

9,583 jobs at 982 employers (2026 Q1); +2.4% jobs and +4.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 54th pct · 1,481st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 48th pct · 35th of 67 Alabama counties · median 10,118
• 33rd pct · 5th of 7 counties in the Birmingham metro · median 18,474

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 #

1 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 1, 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 #

47 gauges · 0 flooding · 12 with quality panels averaging 97 % · 2 stale

Sites found: 47, 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 (0.17)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.03 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$659.2 m in deposits at 10 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,016, highly concentrated. $424.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $273.9 m, grants $150.5 m), $44,304 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,016 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 = 47.9² + 19.1² + 12.4² + … (3 more) = 3,016

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 $44,304 per covered job, against 9,583 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $424.6 m / 9,583 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $44,304

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 #

Chilton County, AL: 10 findings, 10 noted

1. noteChilton County, AL'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

2. noteChilton County, AL's covered employment was 2.4% 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

   • +2.4 % = 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

3. noteChilton County, AL's typical asking rent fell 0.6% from $1,397 in July 2026 to $1,388 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.6% = (1387.8500000000001 - 1396.723790351025) / 1396.723790351025 × 100
   • 1387.8500000000001 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1396.723790351025 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

4. noteChilton County, AL's typical home value rose 0.5% from $225,029 in July 2026 to $226,236 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.5% = (226235.76425600913 - 225029.09471309368) / 225029.09471309368 × 100
   • 226235.76425600913 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 225029.09471309368 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

5. noteChilton County, AL's typical home value of +6.0% ranks 1st of 7 counties in the Birmingham metro, against a median of +2.2%.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 100 on the 0-to-100 scale across 7 counties in the Birmingham metro that published home.yoyPct

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

Read all 10 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.