Piscataquis County, ME
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 45.92, -69.10.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 49th pct · 1,555th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 13th pct · 14th of 16 Maine counties · median $326,145
- 28th pct · 2,205th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 26th pct · 12th of 16 Maine counties · median +1.5%
- US counties: not published this period
- Maine counties: not published this period
- 36th pct · 2,047th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 16th of 16 Maine counties · median 16,807
- 23rd pct · 2,471st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 0th pct · 16th of 16 Maine counties · median $1,117
- 62nd pct · 1,163rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 20th pct · 13th of 16 Maine counties · median 5.9
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 $232,810 (Aug 2026), +0.9% over one year, +32.9% over five
- 49th pct · 1,555th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 13th pct · 14th of 16 Maine counties · median $326,145
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Piscataquis County, ME | $232,810 · +0.9% 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
- Maine 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 $1,274 a month on $232,810 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,991 a month: 31.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $232,810 × 80% = $186,248, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,274/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $921 × 52 / 12 = $3,991) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $232,810 / ($921 × 52) = 4.9
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 #
4,864 jobs at 593 employers (2026 Q1); -3.4% jobs and +2.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 36th pct · 2,047th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 16th of 16 Maine counties · median 16,807
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Piscataquis County, ME | 4,864 jobs · $921/wk · -3.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 976 | $1,087 | 1.33 | -2.6% |
| Retail trade | 864 | $720 | 1.82 | -2.9% |
| Manufacturing | 833 | $1,000 | 2.13 | +1.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 97 | $1,685 | 0.29 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 72 | $1,237 | 0.36 | +0.0% |
| Utilities | 39 | $2,408 | 2.03 | +30.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 36 | $940 | 0.48 | +0.0% |
| Educational services | 19 | $613 | 0.18 | +18.8% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | 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 #
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 #
$230.0 m in deposits at 4 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,010, highly concentrated. $161.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $146.4 m, grants $14.9 m), $33,256 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Camden National Bank | $120.1 m · 52.2% share · 2 offices | |
| Bangor Savings Bank | $109.9 m · 47.8% share · 2 offices | |
| Piscataquis, ME | $161.8 m FY2026 · $33,256/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $143.8 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Camden National Bank | $120,065,000 | 52.2% | 2 |
| Bangor Savings Bank | $109,947,000 | 47.8% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 5,010 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 = 52.2² + 47.8² = 5,010
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 | $119,035,839 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $20,259,610 |
| Department of Transportation | $14,834,003 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $4,638,823 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,990,483 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $585,917 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $189,042 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $140,157 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $63,224 |
| Department of Education | $20,483 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $33,256 per covered job, against 4,864 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $161.8 m / 4,864 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $33,256
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 #
Piscataquis County, ME: 13 findings, 1 at an alert level, 4 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertPiscataquis County, ME's covered employment is -3.4% 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 = -3.4 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchPiscataquis County, ME's covered employment is -3.4% 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 = -3.4 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchPiscataquis County, ME's years of wages of 4.9 scores 62 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 20 across Maine counties, a gap of 42 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 42 = |62 across US counties - 20 across Maine counties|
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchPiscataquis County, ME's covered employment of 4,864 scores 36 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 0 across Maine counties, a gap of 36 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 36 = |36 across US counties - 0 across Maine counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchPiscataquis County, ME's typical home value of $232,810 scores 49 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 13 across Maine counties, a gap of 36 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 36 = |49 across US counties - 13 across Maine counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; 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.