Dukes County, MA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.38, -70.70.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 99th pct · 7th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 92nd pct · 2nd of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $687,938
- 72nd pct · 832nd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 92nd pct · 2nd of 14 Massachusetts counties · median +2.3%
- US counties: not published this period
- Massachusetts counties: not published this period
- 46th pct · 1,734th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 7th pct · 13th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 194,940
- 92nd pct · 236th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 53rd pct · 7th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $1,471
- 99th pct · 5th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 92nd pct · 2nd of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 7.5
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 $1.6 m (Aug 2026), +5.1% over one year, +32.2% over five
- 99th pct · 7th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 92nd pct · 2nd of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $687,938
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Dukes County, MA | $1.6 m · +5.1% 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
- Massachusetts 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 $8,526 a month on $1,557,666 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,496 a month: 131.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $1.6 m × 80% = $1.2 m, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $8,526/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,499 × 52 / 12 = $6,496) = 131% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $1.6 m / ($1,499 × 52) = 20.0
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 #
7,068 jobs at 1,424 employers (2026 Q1); -2.0% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 46th pct · 1,734th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 7th pct · 13th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 194,940
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Dukes County, MA | 7,068 jobs · $1,499/wk · -2.0% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 982 | $1,803 | 0.92 | -2.2% |
| Retail trade | 963 | $1,109 | 1.40 | -0.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 385 | $1,469 | 0.96 | +0.0% |
| Other services | 262 | $1,328 | 1.24 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 183 | $1,295 | 0.61 | +14.4% |
| Educational services | 39 | $1,072 | 0.26 | -37.1% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld | |||
| Information | 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 #
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 #
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 #
$1.4 bn in deposits at 13 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,065, highly concentrated. $148.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $135.8 m, grants $12.0 m), $20,984 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Martha's Vineyard Bank | $943.9 m · 68.2% share · 7 offices | |
| Rockland Trust Company | $245.3 m · 17.7% share · 4 offices | |
| Santander Bank, N.A. | $104.6 m · 7.6% share · 1 office | |
| Dukes, MA | $148.3 m FY2026 · $20,984/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $132.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martha's Vineyard Bank | $943,916,000 | 68.2% | 7 |
| Rockland Trust Company | $245,331,000 | 17.7% | 4 |
| Santander Bank, N.A. | $104,614,000 | 7.6% | 1 |
| The Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank | $90,249,000 | 6.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,065 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 = 68.2² + 17.7² + 7.6² + … (1 more) = 5,065
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 | $128,027,464 |
| Department of Transportation | $7,861,135 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $3,805,841 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $3,350,274 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $2,200,807 |
| Department of the Interior | $1,108,940 |
| Department of Justice | $538,500 |
| Department of Commerce | $500,000 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $346,253 |
| Department of Education | $204,704 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $122,597 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $118,392 |
That is $20,984 per covered job, against 7,068 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $148.3 m / 7,068 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,984
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 #
Dukes County, MA: 15 findings, 5 at a watch level and 10 noted
watchDukes County, MA's years of wages is 20.0, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; 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 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- test: yearsOfWages = 19.983402577997325 >= 10
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchDukes County, MA's years of wages of 20.0 ranks 5th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; 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: yearsOfWages percentile = 99.86936642717178 >= 90
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level
watchDukes County, MA's covered employment is -2.0% 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 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchDukes County, MA's average weekly wage of $1,499 scores 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 54 across Massachusetts counties, a gap of 39 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 39 = |93 across US counties - 54 across Massachusetts counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchDukes County, MA's covered employment of 7,068 scores 46 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 8 across Massachusetts counties, a gap of 38 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 38 = |46 across US counties - 8 across Massachusetts 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.