Washington County, NE

Home values #

Typical home $404,879 (Aug 2026), +2.3% over one year, +25.7% over five

• 86th pct · 409th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 100th pct · 1st of 89 Nebraska counties · median $218,486
• 100th pct · 1st of 8 counties in the Omaha metro · median $304,136

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 $1,550/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 21.8

• 54th pct · 633rd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 92nd pct · 2nd of 14 Nebraska counties · median $1,300
• 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Omaha metro · median $1,411

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 $2,216 a month on $404,879 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,404 a month: 41.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $404,879 × 80% = $323,903, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,216/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,247 × 52 / 12 = $5,404) = 41% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $404,879 / ($1,247 × 52) = 6.2
• price-to-rent = $404,879 / ($1,550 × 12) = 21.8

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 #

8,194 jobs at 691 employers (2026 Q1); -2.3% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 49th pct · 1,617th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 85th pct · 14th of 93 Nebraska counties · median 2,151
• 57th pct · 4th of 8 counties in the Omaha metro · median 7,066

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 #

102 gauges · 1 flooding · 15 with quality panels averaging 92 % · 28 stale

Sites found: 102, 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 #

51 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 51, 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 (0.03)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.08 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$636.2 m in deposits at 5 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,998, highly concentrated. $155.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $144.4 m, grants $10.5 m), $18,917 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 5,998 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 = 74.0² + 22.7² + 3.4² = 5,998

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 $18,917 per covered job, against 8,194 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $155.0 m / 8,194 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,917

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 #

Washington County, NE: 16 findings, 3 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. watchWashington County, NE's covered employment is -2.3% 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 = -2.3 < 0

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

2. watchWashington County, NE's typical asking rent of $1,550 scores 55 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 92 across Nebraska counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |55 across US counties - 92 across Nebraska counties|

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

3. watchWashington County, NE's covered employment of 8,194 scores 50 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 86 across Nebraska counties, a gap of 36 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 36 = |50 across US counties - 86 across Nebraska counties|

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

4. noteWashington County, NE's average weekly wage was 4.4% 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

   • +4.4 % = 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

5. noteWashington County, NE's covered employment was 2.3% 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

   • -2.3 % = 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.