Dorchester County, MD

Home values #

Typical home $271,430 (Aug 2026), +1.1% over one year, +19.2% over five

• 62nd pct · 1,157th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 13th pct · 21st of 24 Maryland counties · median $420,593

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 $1,744/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 13.0

• 69th pct · 428th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 21st pct · 16th of 20 Maryland counties · median $1,960

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 $1,486 a month on $271,430 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,689 a month: 31.7% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $271,430 × 80% = $217,144, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,486/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,082 × 52 / 12 = $4,689) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $271,430 / ($1,082 × 52) = 4.8
• price-to-rent = $271,430 / ($1,744 × 12) = 13.0

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 #

11,302 jobs at 813 employers (2026 Q1); -3.3% jobs and +3.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 57th pct · 1,365th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 13th pct · 21st of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580

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 #

58 gauges · 0 flooding · 9 with quality panels averaging 78 % · 26 stale

Sites found: 58, 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 #

52 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 52, 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 (0.08)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.22 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$689.7 m in deposits at 12 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,935, highly concentrated. $383.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $232.7 m, contracts $131.6 m), $33,919 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,935 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 28.7² + 26.1² + 12.8² + … (4 more) = 1,935

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 $33,919 per covered job, against 11,302 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $383.4 m / 11,302 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $33,919

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 #

Dorchester County, MD: 14 findings, 1 at an alert level, 7 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. alertDorchester County, MD's covered employment is -3.3% 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 <= -3

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchDorchester County, MD's covered employment is -3.3% 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 = -3.3 < 0

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

3. watchDorchester County, MD's typical home value of $271,430 scores 62 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 13 across Maryland counties, a gap of 49 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 49 = |62 across US counties - 13 across Maryland counties|

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

4. watchDorchester County, MD's typical asking rent of $1,744 scores 69 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 21 across Maryland counties, a gap of 48 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 48 = |69 across US counties - 21 across Maryland counties|

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

5. watchDorchester County, MD's covered employment of 11,302 scores 58 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 13 across Maryland counties, a gap of 45 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 45 = |58 across US counties - 13 across Maryland 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.