Mercer County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 37.81, -84.88.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 53rd pct · 1,437th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 77th pct · 28th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
- 14th pct · 2,631st of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 56th pct · 53rd of 120 Kentucky counties · median -2.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- 44th pct · 1,801st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 58th pct · 50th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 84th pct · 509th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 93rd pct · 9th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 34th pct · 2,003rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 52nd pct · 57th 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 $243,242 (Aug 2026), -1.1% over one year, +28.6% over five
- 53rd pct · 1,437th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 77th pct · 28th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mercer County, KY | $243,242 · -1.1% 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 $1,331 a month on $243,242 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,599 a month: 23.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $243,242 × 80% = $194,594, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,331/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,292 × 52 / 12 = $5,599) = 24% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $243,242 / ($1,292 × 52) = 3.6
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 #
6,446 jobs at 622 employers (2026 Q1); +0.6% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 44th pct · 1,801st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 58th pct · 50th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mercer County, KY | 6,446 jobs · $1,292/wk · +0.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 1,809 | $2,090 | 3.49 | -4.1% |
| Health care and social assistance | 832 | $855 | 0.86 | -0.1% |
| Retail trade | 651 | $753 | 1.04 | +6.4% |
| Administrative and waste services | 505 | $1,567 | 1.38 | +5.2% |
| Accommodation and food services | 442 | $370 | 0.76 | -2.9% |
| Construction | 354 | $1,084 | 1.05 | +7.9% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 189 | $697 | 1.78 | +6.2% |
| Other services | 149 | $678 | 0.77 | +28.4% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 135 | $1,097 | 0.50 | -10.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 116 | $1,527 | 0.44 | -11.5% |
| Educational services | 15 | $349 | 0.11 | +36.4% |
| Information | 12 | $1,288 | 0.10 | +9.1% |
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 #
$377.4 m in deposits at 8 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,790, highly concentrated. $152.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $151.2 m, grants $746,870), $23,582 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Farmers National Bank of Danville | $118.5 m · 31.4% share · 3 offices | |
| Community Trust Bank, Inc. | $114.0 m · 30.2% share · 1 office | |
| Whitaker Bank | $105.6 m · 28.0% share · 3 offices | |
| Mercer, KY | $152.0 m FY2026 · $23,582/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $149.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Farmers National Bank of Danville | $118,549,000 | 31.4% | 3 |
| Community Trust Bank, Inc. | $114,042,000 | 30.2% | 1 |
| Whitaker Bank | $105,561,000 | 28.0% | 3 |
| First Financial Bank | $39,266,000 | 10.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,790 across 4 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 4 banks with deposits in the county = 31.4² + 30.2² + 28.0² + … (1 more) = 2,790
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 | $130,761,937 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $17,945,653 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,238,206 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,172,188 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,008,567 |
| Department of Education | $50,939 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $41,011 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $37,789 |
| Small Business Administration | -$18,709 |
| Department of Transportation | -$229,477 |
That is $23,582 per covered job, against 6,446 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $152.0 m / 6,446 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $23,582
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 #
Mercer County, KY: 7 findings, 2 at a watch level and 5 noted
watchMercer County, KY's typical home value is -1.1% 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 = -1.139388195786428 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchMercer County, KY's typical home value of -1.1% scores 14 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 56 across Kentucky counties, a gap of 42 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 42 = |14 across US counties - 56 across Kentucky counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteMercer County, KY's average weekly wage was 4.4% 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
- +4.4 % = 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
noteMercer County, KY's covered employment was 0.6% 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
- +0.6 % = 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
noteMercer County, KY's average weekly wage of $1,292 ranks 9th of 120 Kentucky counties, against a median of $953.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across 120 Kentucky counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 7 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.