Hunterdon County, NJ

Home values #

Typical home $635,506 (Aug 2026), +3.2% over one year, +27.5% over five

• 96th pct · 93rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 65th pct · 8th of 21 New Jersey counties · median $588,036
• 33rd pct · 15th of 22 counties in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro · median $688,267

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 $2,533/mo (Aug 2026), -0.5% over one year; price-to-rent 20.9

• 94th pct · 76th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 65th pct · 8th of 21 New Jersey counties · median $2,286
• 19th pct · 18th of 22 counties in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro · median $2,832

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 $3,479 a month on $635,506 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $7,202 a month: 48.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $635,506 × 80% = $508,405, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $3,479/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,662 × 52 / 12 = $7,202) = 48% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $635,506 / ($1,662 × 52) = 7.4
• price-to-rent = $635,506 / ($2,533 × 12) = 20.9

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 #

46,590 jobs at 4,131 employers (2026 Q1); -1.5% jobs and +2.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 83rd pct · 543rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 20th pct · 17th of 21 New Jersey counties · median 188,702
• 9th pct · 20th of 22 counties in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro · median 283,785

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 #

7 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 7, 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 #

318 gauges · 0 flooding · 127 with quality panels averaging 99 % · 118 stale

Sites found: 318, 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 #

225 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 225, 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 + 0.2×0.01 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$6.0 bn in deposits at 30 offices of 14 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,337, moderately concentrated. $910.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $874.5 m, grants $31.5 m), $19,546 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,337 across 14 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 14 banks with deposits in the county = 25.3² + 14.7² + 13.9² + … (11 more) = 1,337

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 $19,546 per covered job, against 46,590 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $910.7 m / 46,590 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $19,546

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 #

Hunterdon County, NJ: 16 findings, 5 at a watch level and 11 noted

1. watchHunterdon County, NJ's covered employment is -1.5% 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 = -1.5 < 0

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

2. watchHunterdon County, NJ's years of wages of 7.4 ranks 293rd 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 = 90.46374918354016 >= 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

3. watchHunterdon County, NJ's covered employment of 46,590 scores 83 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 20 across New Jersey counties, a gap of 63 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 63 = |83 across US counties - 20 across New Jersey counties|

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

4. watchHunterdon County, NJ's typical home value of $635,506 scores 97 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 65 across New Jersey counties, a gap of 32 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 32 = |97 across US counties - 65 across New Jersey counties|

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

5. watchHunterdon County, NJ's average weekly wage of $1,662 scores 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 65 across New Jersey counties, a gap of 31 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 31 = |96 across US counties - 65 across New Jersey 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.