Columbia County, NY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 42.25, -73.63.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 92nd pct · 216th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 81st pct · 12th of 62 New York counties · median $256,722
- 78th pct · 664th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 54th pct · 29th of 62 New York counties · median +5.7%
- 91st pct · 120th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 77th pct · 12th of 49 New York counties · median $1,531
- 71st pct · 923rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 32nd pct · 42nd of 62 New York counties · median 32,139
- 65th pct · 1,105th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 20th pct · 49th of 62 New York counties · median $1,250
- 94th pct · 181st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 90th pct · 7th of 62 New York counties · median 4.1
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 $491,479 (Aug 2026), +5.8% over one year, +33.8% over five
- 92nd pct · 216th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 81st pct · 12th of 62 New York counties · median $256,722
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia County, NY | $491,479 · +5.8% 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 #
Typical rent $2,284/mo (Aug 2026), +4.3% over one year; price-to-rent 17.9
- 91st pct · 120th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 77th pct · 12th of 49 New York counties · median $1,531
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia County, NY | $2,284/mo · +4.3% 1-yr |
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 $2,690 a month on $491,479 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,845 a month: 55.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $491,479 × 80% = $393,183, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,690/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,118 × 52 / 12 = $4,845) = 56% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $491,479 / ($1,118 × 52) = 8.5
- price-to-rent = $491,479 / ($2,284 × 12) = 17.9
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 #
20,020 jobs at 2,236 employers (2026 Q1); -1.3% jobs and +1.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 71st pct · 923rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 32nd pct · 42nd of 62 New York counties · median 32,139
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia County, NY | 20,020 jobs · $1,118/wk · -1.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 3,854 | $1,052 | 1.28 | +0.1% |
| Retail trade | 2,614 | $792 | 1.34 | -2.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,868 | $625 | 1.04 | +4.0% |
| Manufacturing | 1,383 | $1,144 | 0.86 | -2.9% |
| Construction | 1,120 | $1,245 | 1.07 | -2.7% |
| Professional and technical services | 694 | $2,063 | 0.50 | -5.8% |
| Other services | 639 | $847 | 1.07 | +7.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 563 | $1,483 | 0.73 | -12.3% |
| Administrative and waste services | 377 | $1,015 | 0.33 | -0.5% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 365 | $788 | 1.11 | +41.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 322 | $1,818 | 0.39 | -0.3% |
| Unclassified | 245 | $964 | 5.75 | +104.2% |
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 #
$1.5 bn in deposits at 19 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,575, highly concentrated. $451.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $437.7 m, grants $11.0 m), $22,547 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| KeyBank National Association | $536.8 m · 36.2% share · 4 offices | |
| The Bank of Greene County | $417.9 m · 28.2% share · 6 offices | |
| Community Bank, National Association | $290.7 m · 19.6% share · 3 offices | |
| Columbia, NY | $451.4 m FY2026 · $22,547/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $430.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| KeyBank National Association | $536,818,000 | 36.2% | 4 |
| The Bank of Greene County | $417,927,000 | 28.2% | 6 |
| Community Bank, National Association | $290,742,000 | 19.6% | 3 |
| TrustCo Bank | $98,290,000 | 6.6% | 3 |
| TD Bank, National Association | $82,293,000 | 5.5% | 1 |
| Beacon Bank and Trust | $56,922,000 | 3.8% | 1 |
| Pioneer Bank, National Association | $1,015,000 | 0.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,575 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 = 36.2² + 28.2² + 19.6² + … (4 more) = 2,575
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 | $405,471,838 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $19,725,703 |
| Department of Transportation | $7,301,300 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $5,509,414 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,454,131 |
| Department of Energy | $2,805,624 |
| Department of Education | $2,389,135 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $2,091,189 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,336,886 |
| Department of the Interior | $1,020,809 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $200,895 |
| Department of Defense | $150,520 |
That is $22,547 per covered job, against 20,020 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $451.4 m / 20,020 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $22,547
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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| 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 #
Columbia County, NY: 13 findings, 5 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchColumbia County, NY's years of wages of 8.5 ranks 181st 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 = 94.12148922273023 >= 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
watchColumbia County, NY's covered employment is -1.3% 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 = -1.3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchColumbia County, NY's typical asking rent is -1.4% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; 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: rent.momPct = -1.4471476761245248 <= -1
- month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchColumbia County, NY's average weekly wage of $1,118 scores 66 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 20 across New York counties, a gap of 45 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 45 = |66 across US counties - 20 across New York counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchColumbia County, NY's covered employment of 20,020 scores 71 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 33 across New York counties, a gap of 39 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 39 = |71 across US counties - 33 across New York 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.