Charles County, MD

Home values #

Typical home $446,976 (Aug 2026), -1.2% over one year, +10.3% over five

• 90th pct · 304th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 65th pct · 9th of 24 Maryland counties · median $420,593
• 13th pct · 20th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $568,558

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 $2,404/mo (Aug 2026), +3.5% over one year; price-to-rent 15.5

• 93rd pct · 94th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 100th pct · 1st of 20 Maryland counties · median $1,960
• 66th pct · 8th of 22 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $2,260

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 $2,447 a month on $446,976 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,217 a month: 46.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $446,976 × 80% = $357,581, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,447/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,204 × 52 / 12 = $5,217) = 47% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $446,976 / ($1,204 × 52) = 7.1
• price-to-rent = $446,976 / ($2,404 × 12) = 15.5

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 #

42,569 jobs at 3,291 employers (2026 Q1); -2.5% jobs and +1.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 82nd pct · 580th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 47th pct · 13th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
• 54th pct · 11th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median 38,075

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 #

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 #

90 gauges · 0 flooding · 39 with quality panels averaging 97 % · 37 stale

Sites found: 90, 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 #

57 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 57, 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 (0.01)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.03 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$3.0 bn in deposits at 18 offices of 8 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,713, moderately concentrated. $1.3 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.1 bn, contracts $221.9 m), $30,699 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,713 across 8 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 8 banks with deposits in the county = 23.5² + 21.4² + 17.5² + … (5 more) = 1,713

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.

That is $30,699 per covered job, against 42,569 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.3 bn / 42,569 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $30,699

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.

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 #

Charles County, MD: 17 findings, 3 at a watch level and 14 noted

1. watchCharles County, MD's covered employment is -2.5% 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 = -2.5 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. watchCharles County, MD's typical home value is -1.2% 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 = -1.216498723948117 < 0

   arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level

3. watchCharles County, MD's covered employment of 42,569 scores 82 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 48 across Maryland counties, a gap of 34 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 34 = |82 across US counties - 48 across Maryland counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

4. noteCharles County, MD's covered employment was 2.5% 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

   • -2.5 % = 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

5. noteCharles County, MD's average weekly wage was 1.4% 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

   • +1.4 % = 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

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.