Somerset County, MD
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.07, -75.85.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 41st pct · 1,798th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 8th pct · 22nd of 24 Maryland counties · median $420,593
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 52nd pct · 1,463rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 95th pct · 2nd of 24 Maryland counties · median +1.0%
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- US counties: not published this period
- Maryland counties: not published this period
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 45th pct · 1,753rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 24th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 78th pct · 680th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 52nd pct · 12th of 24 Maryland counties · median $1,216
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 27th pct · 2,221st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 8th pct · 22nd of 24 Maryland counties · median 5.8
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $211,844 (Aug 2026), +3.1% over one year, +22.9% over five
- 41st pct · 1,798th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 8th pct · 22nd of 24 Maryland counties · median $420,593
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Somerset County, MD | $211,844 · +3.1% 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
- Maryland counties: not published this period
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $1,160 a month on $211,844 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,321 a month: 21.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $211,844 × 80% = $169,475, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,160/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,228 × 52 / 12 = $5,321) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $211,844 / ($1,228 × 52) = 3.3
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 #
6,900 jobs at 457 employers (2026 Q1); -2.7% jobs and +6.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 45th pct · 1,753rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 24th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
- counties in the Salisbury metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Salisbury metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Somerset County, MD | 6,900 jobs · $1,228/wk · -2.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 953 | $934 | 0.92 | +0.0% |
| Retail trade | 480 | $578 | 0.71 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 381 | $1,642 | 1.44 | -5.9% |
| Other services | 246 | $853 | 1.19 | +0.0% |
| Educational services | 16 | $590 | 0.11 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Transportation and warehousing | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld | |||
| Finance and insurance | 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 #
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 #
$311.2 m in deposits at 5 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,987, highly concentrated. $184.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $147.5 m, grants $36.9 m), $26,795 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| PNC Bank, National Association | $146.0 m · 46.9% share · 2 offices | |
| Hebron Savings Bank | $125.3 m · 40.3% share · 2 offices | |
| Truist Bank | $39.9 m · 12.8% share · 1 office | |
| Somerset, MD | $184.9 m FY2026 · $26,795/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $134.8 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNC Bank, National Association | $146,041,000 | 46.9% | 2 |
| Hebron Savings Bank | $125,298,000 | 40.3% | 2 |
| Truist Bank | $39,877,000 | 12.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,987 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 46.9² + 40.3² + 12.8² = 3,987
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 | $120,122,698 |
| Department of Education | $18,881,098 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $13,644,726 |
| Department of Agriculture | $13,060,423 |
| Department of Transportation | $8,521,523 |
| Department of Commerce | $3,700,000 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $2,843,149 |
| National Science Foundation | $1,192,900 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $1,162,072 |
| Department of Defense | $839,034 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $449,643 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $377,763 |
That is $26,795 per covered job, against 6,900 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $184.9 m / 6,900 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $26,795
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 #
Somerset County, MD: 11 findings, 4 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchSomerset County, MD's covered employment is -2.7% 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 = -2.7 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchSomerset County, MD's covered employment of 6,900 scores 46 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 0 across Maryland counties, a gap of 46 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 46 = |46 across US counties - 0 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchSomerset County, MD's typical home value of +3.1% scores 52 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 96 across Maryland counties, a gap of 43 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 43 = |52 across US counties - 96 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchSomerset County, MD's typical home value of $211,844 scores 41 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 9 across Maryland counties, a gap of 33 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 33 = |41 across US counties - 9 across Maryland counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteSomerset County, MD's average weekly wage was 6.5% 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
- +6.5 % = 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
Read all 11 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.