McCreary County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 36.73, -84.49.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 3rd pct · 2,971st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 8th pct · 110th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
- 0th pct · 3,041st of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 10th pct · 107th of 120 Kentucky counties · median -2.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- 22nd pct · 2,485th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 30th pct · 84th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 22nd pct · 2,485th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 37th pct · 75th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 5th pct · 2,900th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 9th pct · 109th 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 $101,988 (Aug 2026), -11.8% over one year, +16.2% over five
- 3rd pct · 2,971st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 8th pct · 110th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| McCreary County, KY | $101,988 · -11.8% 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 $558 a month on $101,988 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,982 a month: 14.0% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $101,988 × 80% = $81,590, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $558/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $919 × 52 / 12 = $3,982) = 14% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $101,988 / ($919 × 52) = 2.1
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 #
2,808 jobs at 305 employers (2026 Q1); -3.0% jobs and +3.8% average weekly wage over the year
- 22nd pct · 2,485th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 30th pct · 84th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| McCreary County, KY | 2,808 jobs · $919/wk · -3.0% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 316 | $586 | 1.15 | +0.6% |
| Manufacturing | 245 | $777 | 1.08 | -30.4% |
| Accommodation and food services | 240 | $277 | 0.95 | +15.4% |
| Finance and insurance | 78 | $925 | 0.68 | -3.7% |
| Administrative and waste services | 43 | $1,066 | 0.27 | +26.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 33 | $679 | 0.17 | +3.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 15 | $525 | 0.13 | -6.2% |
| Real estate and rental | 4 | $278 | 0.09 | -20.0% |
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld |
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 #
31 gauges · 0 flooding · 6 with quality panels averaging 97 % · 8 stale
Sites found: 31, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| CLEAR CREEK AT LILLY BRIDGE NEAR LANCING, TN | flow 13.3 ft³/s · quality 80 % (5) | 73 km |
| SOUTH FORK CUMBERLAND RIVER NEAR YAMACRAW, KY | flow 407.0 ft³/s · STALE | 5 km |
| ROCK CREEK NEAR YAMACRAW, KY | flow 18.3 ft³/s · quality 100 % (5) · STALE | 7 km |
| SOUTH FORK CUMBERLAND RIVER NEAR STEARNS, KY | flow 144.0 ft³/s | 12 km |
| CUMBERLAND RIVER AT CUMBERLAND FALLS, KY | flow 471.0 ft³/s | 18 km |
| Cumberland River at Cumberland Falls | no readings | 18 km |
| CUMBERLAND RIVER AT WILLIAMSBURG, KY | flow 400.0 ft³/s · no flooding | 30 km |
| SOUTH FK CUMBERLAND RIVER AT LEATHERWOOD FORD, TN | flow 134.0 ft³/s | 32 km |
| CLEAR FORK AT SAXTON, KY | flow 42.5 ft³/s | 36 km |
| BEAVER CREEK NEAR MONTICELLO, KY | flow 2.39 ft³/s | 37 km |
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 #
5 wells in 0 named aquifers:
Sites found: 5, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| USGS-365138084264101 | depth 24.1 ft · 1984-08-26 | 15 km |
| USGS-363304084475600 | depth 100.7 ft · 2026-10-05 | 34 km |
| USGS-370757084045001 | depth 43.7 ft · 1984-11-08 | 58 km |
| USGS-363749083430701 | depth 7.12 ft · 2026-10-06 | 70 km |
| USGS-360543084343101 | depth 3.74 ft · 2026-10-05 | 71 km |
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 (0.01)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.03 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
$198.1 m in deposits at 3 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $179.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $94.6 m, contracts $81.4 m), $63,872 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| United Cumberland Bank | $198.1 m · 100.0% share · 3 offices | |
| McCreary, KY | $179.4 m FY2026 · $63,872/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $93.2 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Cumberland Bank | $198,120,000 | 100.0% | 3 |
Deposit concentration is 10,000 across 1 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 1 banks with deposits in the county = 100.0² = 10,000
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 | $79,528,365 |
| Department of Defense | $77,404,116 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $13,942,592 |
| Department of Education | $2,400,000 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,145,965 |
| Department of Justice | $1,047,663 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $749,842 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $722,012 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $517,133 |
| Department of Transportation | $466,069 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $355,624 |
| Department of the Interior | $78,707 |
That is $63,872 per covered job, against 2,808 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $179.4 m / 2,808 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $63,872
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 | 3.00 | 2026-10-06 | -50.0% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| 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 #
McCreary County, KY: 16 findings, 2 at an alert level, 3 at a watch level and 11 noted
alertMcCreary County, KY's typical home value is -11.8% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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 = -11.792542346749531 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
alertMcCreary County, KY's covered employment is -3.0% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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 = -3 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchMcCreary County, KY's typical home value is -11.8% 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 = -11.792542346749531 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchMcCreary County, KY's covered employment is -3.0% 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 = -3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchMcCreary County, KY's momentum index is -0.52, a watch level here: momentum index in the cooling band (the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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: momentum = -0.5196078431372549 <= -0.25
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
Read all 12 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.