Banks County, GA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.35, -83.50.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 77th pct · 681st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 82nd pct · 29th of 159 Georgia counties · median $219,820
- 24th pct · 2,299th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 24th pct · 121st of 159 Georgia counties · median +2.6%
- 54th pct · 644th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 40th pct · 43rd of 72 Georgia counties · median $1,651
- 38th pct · 1,973rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 43rd pct · 90th of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
- 17th pct · 2,664th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 23rd pct · 122nd of 159 Georgia counties · median $964
- 90th pct · 291st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 90th pct · 16th of 159 Georgia counties · median 4.3
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 $340,408 (Aug 2026), +0.5% over one year, +34.4% over five
- 77th pct · 681st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 82nd pct · 29th of 159 Georgia counties · median $219,820
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Banks County, GA | $340,408 · +0.5% 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 $1,540/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 18.4
- 54th pct · 644th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 40th pct · 43rd of 72 Georgia counties · median $1,651
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Banks County, GA | $1,540/mo · n/a 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 $1,863 a month on $340,408 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,852 a month: 48.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $340,408 × 80% = $272,327, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,863/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $889 × 52 / 12 = $3,852) = 48% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $340,408 / ($889 × 52) = 7.4
- price-to-rent = $340,408 / ($1,540 × 12) = 18.4
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 #
5,320 jobs at 394 employers (2026 Q1); +6.7% jobs and +1.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 38th pct · 1,973rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 43rd pct · 90th of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Banks County, GA | 5,320 jobs · $889/wk · +6.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 968 | $687 | 1.87 | +12.4% |
| Accommodation and food services | 909 | $470 | 1.90 | -0.3% |
| Manufacturing | 562 | $1,005 | 1.31 | +11.5% |
| Construction | 304 | $1,159 | 1.09 | +9.7% |
| Professional and technical services | 293 | $796 | 0.80 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 216 | $1,617 | 1.06 | +27.1% |
| Health care and social assistance | 189 | $925 | 0.24 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 94 | $889 | 0.42 | +40.3% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 78 | $492 | 0.89 | -9.3% |
| Other services | 78 | $806 | 0.49 | +1.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 26 | $1,839 | 0.12 | +8.3% |
| Educational services | 5 | $671 | 0.04 | +0.0% |
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 #
$140.3 m in deposits at 2 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,020, highly concentrated. $133.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $118.5 m, grants $14.5 m), $25,033 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Regions Bank | $74.6 m · 53.2% share · 1 office | |
| Northeast Georgia Bank | $65.7 m · 46.8% share · 1 office | |
| Banks, GA | $133.2 m FY2026 · $25,033/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $113.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regions Bank | $74,617,000 | 53.2% | 1 |
| Northeast Georgia Bank | $65,658,000 | 46.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,020 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 53.2² + 46.8² = 5,020
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 | $98,151,184 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $14,748,284 |
| Department of Transportation | $14,505,966 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,975,872 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $2,035,511 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $576,988 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $181,802 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $25,033 per covered job, against 5,320 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $133.2 m / 5,320 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $25,033
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 | 12.28 | 2026-10-04 | -0.1% |
| 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 · % | 72.60 | 2026-10-05 | +0.1% |
| 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 | 6.00 | 2026-09-22 | -14.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 6,830.00 | 2026-08-01 | +7.4% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 96.16 | 2026-09-29 | -3.2% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.28 | 2026-10-01 | +3.6% |
| 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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| Retail sales excluding food services, monthly · $ millions | 646,347.00 | 2026-08-01 | +1.1% |
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 #
Banks County, GA: 8 findings, 1 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchBanks County, GA's years of wages of 7.4 ranks 291st 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 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- test: yearsOfWages percentile = 90.52906596995427 >= 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
noteBanks County, GA's covered employment was 6.7% 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
- +6.7 % = 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
noteBanks County, GA's average weekly wage was 1.1% 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
- +1.1 % = 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
noteBanks County, GA's typical asking rent fell 0.4% from $1,546 in July 2026 to $1,540 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -0.4% = (1539.611111111111 - 1545.7254518953287) / 1545.7254518953287 × 100
- 1539.611111111111 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1545.7254518953287 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteBanks County, GA's covered employment of +6.7% ranks 120th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of -0.2%.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published jobs.yoy.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 8 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.