Knox County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 36.89, -83.86.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 10th pct · 2,742nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 20th pct · 96th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
- 5th pct · 2,905th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 40th pct · 72nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median -2.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- 47th pct · 1,692nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 63rd pct · 45th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 16th pct · 2,697th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 26th pct · 88th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 18th pct · 2,493rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 25th pct · 90th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 3.6
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 $135,312 (Aug 2026), -4.3% over one year, +20.9% over five
- 10th pct · 2,742nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 20th pct · 96th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Knox County, KY | $135,312 · -4.3% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky 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 $741 a month on $135,312 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,826 a month: 19.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $135,312 × 80% = $108,250, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $741/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $883 × 52 / 12 = $3,826) = 19% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $135,312 / ($883 × 52) = 2.9
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 #
7,435 jobs at 603 employers (2026 Q1); -1.8% jobs and +6.3% average weekly wage over the year
- 47th pct · 1,692nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 63rd pct · 45th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Knox County, KY | 7,435 jobs · $883/wk · -1.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 1,705 | $945 | 1.52 | +0.0% |
| Retail trade | 1,092 | $609 | 1.51 | -9.6% |
| Manufacturing | 1,006 | $1,111 | 1.68 | +0.5% |
| Construction | 324 | $1,238 | 0.83 | +94.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 219 | $973 | 0.43 | -10.2% |
| Educational services | 192 | $837 | 1.20 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 163 | $1,005 | 0.52 | +6.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 136 | $980 | 0.45 | +3.8% |
| Other services | 66 | $779 | 0.30 | +10.0% |
| Utilities | 61 | $1,802 | 2.08 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 51 | $709 | 0.45 | -3.8% |
| Information | 46 | $1,670 | 0.34 | +12.2% |
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 #
No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)
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 #
$476.8 m in deposits at 11 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,340, highly concentrated. $207.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $191.0 m, grants $15.8 m), $27,897 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial Bank | $155.1 m · 32.5% share · 4 offices | |
| Forcht Bank, National Association | $137.1 m · 28.8% share · 2 offices | |
| Hometown Bank of Corbin, Inc. | $73.4 m · 15.4% share · 2 offices | |
| Knox, KY | $207.4 m FY2026 · $27,897/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $176.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Bank | $155,127,000 | 32.5% | 4 |
| Forcht Bank, National Association | $137,096,000 | 28.8% | 2 |
| Hometown Bank of Corbin, Inc. | $73,411,000 | 15.4% | 2 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $59,823,000 | 12.5% | 1 |
| Cumberland Valley National Bank & Trust Company | $30,331,000 | 6.4% | 1 |
| Whitaker Bank | $21,026,000 | 4.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,340 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 = 32.5² + 28.8² + 15.4² + … (3 more) = 2,340
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 | $160,516,948 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $13,799,571 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $13,513,785 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $11,896,467 |
| Department of Education | $3,303,793 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,641,258 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,218,789 |
| Department of Transportation | $807,309 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $510,616 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $202,315 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $27,897 per covered job, against 7,435 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $207.4 m / 7,435 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,897
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 #
Knox County, KY: 8 findings, 3 at a watch level and 5 noted
watchKnox County, KY's typical home value is -4.3% 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 = -4.286745442864385 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchKnox County, KY's covered employment is -1.8% 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 = -1.8 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchKnox County, KY's typical home value of -4.3% scores 5 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 40 across Kentucky counties, a gap of 35 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 35 = |5 across US counties - 40 across Kentucky counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteKnox County, KY's average weekly wage was 6.3% 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
- +6.3 % = 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
noteKnox County, KY's covered employment was 1.8% lower 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
- -1.8 % = 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 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.