Columbia County, FL

Home values #

Typical home $271,358 (Aug 2026), +0.0% over one year, +28.3% over five

• 62nd pct · 1,159th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 28th pct · 48th of 67 Florida counties · median $307,929

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 $1,487/mo (Aug 2026), +4.2% over one year; price-to-rent 15.2

• 48th pct · 717th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 8th pct · 43rd of 47 Florida counties · median $1,898

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 $1,485 a month on $271,358 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,585 a month: 32.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $271,358 × 80% = $217,086, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,485/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,058 × 52 / 12 = $4,585) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $271,358 / ($1,058 × 52) = 4.9
• price-to-rent = $271,358 / ($1,487 × 12) = 15.2

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 #

25,186 jobs at 1,798 employers (2026 Q1); +1.0% jobs and +3.6% average weekly wage over the year

• 75th pct · 796th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 40th pct · 40th of 67 Florida counties · median 43,443

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 #

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 #

56 gauges · 0 flooding · 24 with quality panels averaging 94 % · 26 stale

Sites found: 56, 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 #

41 wells in 3 named aquifers: Floridan aquifer system, Surficial aquifer system, Intermediate aquifer system

Sites found: 41, 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 (0.18)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.06 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$2.2 bn in deposits at 9 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,345, highly concentrated. $543.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $529.0 m, contracts $9.3 m), $21,572 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 5,345 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 = 71.8² + 8.8² + 7.1² + … (3 more) = 5,345

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 $21,572 per covered job, against 25,186 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $543.3 m / 25,186 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $21,572

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 #

Columbia County, FL: 10 findings, 4 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchColumbia County, FL's typical home value of +0.0% scores 21 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 62 across Florida counties, a gap of 41 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 41 = |21 across US counties - 62 across Florida counties|

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

2. watchColumbia County, FL's typical asking rent of $1,487 scores 49 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 9 across Florida counties, a gap of 40 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 40 = |49 across US counties - 9 across Florida counties|

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

3. watchColumbia County, FL's covered employment of 25,186 scores 75 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 41 across Florida counties, a gap of 34 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 34 = |75 across US counties - 41 across Florida counties|

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

4. watchColumbia County, FL's typical home value of $271,358 scores 62 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 29 across Florida counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |62 across US counties - 29 across Florida counties|

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

5. noteColumbia County, FL's average weekly wage was 3.6% 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

   • +3.6 % = 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 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.