Montgomery County, NY

Home values #

Typical home $216,878 (Aug 2026), +2.7% over one year, +28.5% over five

• 43rd pct · 1,743rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 26th pct · 46th of 62 New York counties · median $256,722

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 $1,253/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 14.4

• 26th pct · 1,032nd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 18th pct · 40th of 49 New York counties · median $1,531

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 $1,187 a month on $216,878 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,658 a month: 25.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $216,878 × 80% = $173,503, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,187/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,075 × 52 / 12 = $4,658) = 25% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $216,878 / ($1,075 × 52) = 3.9
• price-to-rent = $216,878 / ($1,253 × 12) = 14.4

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 #

19,446 jobs at 1,214 employers (2026 Q1); +1.7% jobs and +3.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 70th pct · 944th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 31st pct · 43rd of 62 New York counties · median 32,139

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 #

79 gauges · 0 flooding · 17 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 14 stale

Sites found: 79, 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 #

26 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 26, 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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.0 bn in deposits at 12 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,286, highly concentrated. $335.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $326.8 m, grants $6.5 m), $17,244 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,286 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 44.2² + 33.5² + 12.2² + … (2 more) = 3,286

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 $17,244 per covered job, against 19,446 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $335.3 m / 19,446 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,244

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 #

Montgomery County, NY: 9 findings, 3 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchMontgomery County, NY's typical home value of +2.7% scores 48 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 2 across New York counties, a gap of 46 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 46 = |48 across US counties - 2 across New York counties|

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

2. watchMontgomery County, NY's average weekly wage of $1,075 scores 58 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 15 across New York counties, a gap of 43 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 43 = |58 across US counties - 15 across New York counties|

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

3. watchMontgomery County, NY's covered employment of 19,446 scores 71 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 31 across New York counties, a gap of 40 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 40 = |71 across US counties - 31 across New York counties|

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

4. noteMontgomery County, NY's average weekly wage was 3.1% 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

   • +3.1 % = 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. noteMontgomery County, NY's typical asking rent rose 2.3% from $1,224 in July 2026 to $1,253 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +2.3% = (1252.7777777777776 - 1224.2486679789745) / 1224.2486679789745 × 100
   • 1252.7777777777776 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1224.2486679789745 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

Read all 9 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.