Washington County, CO

Home values #

Typical home $254,662 (Aug 2026), -1.4% over one year, +23.1% over five

• 57th pct · 1,315th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 18th pct · 51st of 62 Colorado counties · median $450,011

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 #

Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)

• US counties: not published this period
• Colorado counties: not published this period

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 $1,394 a month on $254,662 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,930 a month: 35.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $254,662 × 80% = $203,730, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,394/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $907 × 52 / 12 = $3,930) = 35% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $254,662 / ($907 × 52) = 5.4

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 #

1,205 jobs at 162 employers (2026 Q1); -2.7% jobs and +8.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 8th pct · 2,949th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 20th pct · 51st of 64 Colorado counties · median 4,853

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 #

7 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 2 stale

Sites found: 7, 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 #

14 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 14, 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 #

$134.8 m in deposits at 6 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,172, highly concentrated. $46.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $39.1 m, grants $5.3 m), $38,341 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,172 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 47.2² + 23.6² + 17.6² + … (2 more) = 3,172

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 $38,341 per covered job, against 1,205 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $46.2 m / 1,205 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $38,341

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 #

Washington County, CO: 9 findings, 4 at a watch level and 5 noted

1. watchWashington County, CO's covered employment is -2.7% 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 = -2.7 < 0

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

2. watchWashington County, CO's typical home value is -1.4% 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 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: home.yoyPct = -1.3564237778971047 < 0

   arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level

3. watchWashington County, CO's typical home value of $254,662 scores 57 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 18 across Colorado counties, a gap of 39 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 39 = |57 across US counties - 18 across Colorado counties|

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

4. watchWashington County, CO's years of wages of 5.4 scores 71 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 34 across Colorado counties, a gap of 36 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 36 = |71 across US counties - 34 across Colorado 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

5. noteWashington County, CO's average weekly wage was 8.4% 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

   • +8.4 % = 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 9 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.