Ware County, GA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 31.05, -82.42.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 14th pct · 2,606th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 17th pct · 132nd of 159 Georgia counties · median $219,820
- 54th pct · 1,404th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 57th pct · 68th of 159 Georgia counties · median +2.6%
- 13th pct · 1,206th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 7th pct · 67th of 72 Georgia counties · median $1,651
- 63rd pct · 1,175th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 51st of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
- 29th pct · 2,256th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 44th pct · 88th of 159 Georgia counties · median $964
- 19th pct · 2,472nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 18th pct · 129th 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 $147,086 (Aug 2026), +3.3% over one year, +21.4% over five
- 14th pct · 2,606th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 17th pct · 132nd of 159 Georgia counties · median $219,820
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ware County, GA | $147,086 · +3.3% 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 $1,083/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 11.3
- 13th pct · 1,206th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 7th pct · 67th of 72 Georgia counties · median $1,651
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ware County, GA | $1,083/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 $805 a month on $147,086 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,125 a month: 19.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $147,086 × 80% = $117,669, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $805/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $952 × 52 / 12 = $4,125) = 20% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $147,086 / ($952 × 52) = 3.0
- price-to-rent = $147,086 / ($1,083 × 12) = 11.3
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 #
14,305 jobs at 984 employers (2026 Q1); +1.5% jobs and +3.3% average weekly wage over the year
- 63rd pct · 1,175th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 51st of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ware County, GA | 14,305 jobs · $952/wk · +1.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 2,107 | $708 | 1.51 | -0.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,542 | $418 | 1.20 | -3.5% |
| Manufacturing | 1,131 | $1,005 | 0.98 | +3.5% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 669 | $1,220 | 1.11 | +2.1% |
| Construction | 642 | $1,037 | 0.86 | +7.5% |
| Other services | 545 | $744 | 1.27 | -0.4% |
| Wholesale trade | 460 | $1,653 | 0.84 | +2.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 407 | $893 | 0.50 | +7.4% |
| Finance and insurance | 229 | $1,679 | 0.39 | -8.8% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 209 | $356 | 0.89 | -8.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 149 | $918 | 1.44 | +3.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 117 | $1,120 | 0.53 | -7.9% |
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 #
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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$971.8 m in deposits at 8 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,041, highly concentrated. $259.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $233.1 m, grants $26.4 m), $18,154 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ameris Bank | $251.3 m · 25.9% share · 2 offices | |
| PrimeSouth Bank | $245.4 m · 25.3% share · 1 office | |
| Waycross Bank & Trust | $217.3 m · 22.4% share · 1 office | |
| Ware, GA | $259.7 m FY2026 · $18,154/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $222.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ameris Bank | $251,276,000 | 25.9% | 2 |
| PrimeSouth Bank | $245,401,000 | 25.3% | 1 |
| Waycross Bank & Trust | $217,349,000 | 22.4% | 1 |
| Truist Bank | $127,943,000 | 13.2% | 1 |
| United Community Bank | $50,508,000 | 5.2% | 1 |
| First Southern Bank | $47,250,000 | 4.9% | 1 |
| Renasant Bank | $32,037,000 | 3.3% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,041 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 25.9² + 25.3² + 22.4² + … (4 more) = 2,041
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 | $165,122,393 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $32,868,645 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $23,820,805 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $20,244,451 |
| Department of Education | $7,071,759 |
| Department of Transportation | $3,528,462 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,307,333 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $3,247,848 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $474,984 |
| Department of Defense | $28,338 |
| Small Business Administration | -$18,772 |
That is $18,154 per covered job, against 14,305 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $259.7 m / 14,305 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,154
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 | 12.69 | 2026-10-05 | +3.3% |
| 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 | 2026-10-06 | +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 | 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 | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| 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 #
Ware County, GA: 8 findings, 8 noted
noteWare County, GA's average weekly wage was 3.3% 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
- +3.3 % = 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
noteWare County, GA's typical asking rent rose 1.7% from $1,065 in July 2026 to $1,083 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +1.7% = (1083.3333333333333 - 1064.9116406934459) / 1064.9116406934459 × 100
- 1083.3333333333333 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1064.9116406934459 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteWare County, GA's covered employment was 1.5% 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
- +1.5 % = 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
noteWare County, GA's price-to-rent ratio of 11.3 ranks 70th of 72 Georgia counties, against a median of 15.0.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 3 on the 0-to-100 scale across 72 Georgia counties that published priceToRent
- typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteWare County, GA's price-to-rent ratio of 11.3 ranks 1,335th of 1,399 US counties, against a median of 17.2.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 5 on the 0-to-100 scale across 1399 US counties that published priceToRent
- typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
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.