Otsego County, NY

Home values #

Typical home $221,157 (Aug 2026), +4.8% over one year, +26.2% over five

• 44th pct · 1,692nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 27th pct · 45th 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 $1,648/mo (Aug 2026), +5.3% over one year; price-to-rent 11.2

• 62nd pct · 527th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 58th pct · 21st 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 $1,211 a month on $221,157 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,330 a month: 22.7% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $221,157 × 80% = $176,926, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,211/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,230 × 52 / 12 = $5,330) = 23% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $221,157 / ($1,230 × 52) = 3.5
• price-to-rent = $221,157 / ($1,648 × 12) = 11.2

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 #

22,400 jobs at 1,512 employers (2026 Q1); +1.4% jobs and +2.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 73rd pct · 859th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 37th pct · 39th 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 #

4 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 4, 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 #

94 gauges · 0 flooding · 17 with quality panels averaging 97 % · 12 stale

Sites found: 94, 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 #

20 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 20, 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 (0.01)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.03 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.4 bn in deposits at 17 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,941, highly concentrated. $421.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $372.2 m, grants $35.5 m), $18,829 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,941 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 = 38.7² + 29.4² + 21.9² + … (1 more) = 2,941

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 $18,829 per covered job, against 22,400 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $421.8 m / 22,400 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,829

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 #

Otsego County, NY: 12 findings, 5 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchOtsego County, NY's typical asking rent is -3.3% 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 = -3.2598070221787636 <= -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

2. watchOtsego County, NY's typical asking rent fell 3.3% from $1,703 in July 2026 to $1,648 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -3.3% = (1647.7460317460318 - 1703.2693248025626) / 1703.2693248025626 × 100
   • 1647.7460317460318 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1703.2693248025626 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

3. watchOtsego County, NY's typical home value of +4.8% scores 70 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 28 across New York counties, a gap of 43 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 43 = |70 across US counties - 28 across New York counties|

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

4. watchOtsego County, NY's average weekly wage of $1,230 scores 79 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 43 across New York counties, a gap of 36 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 36 = |79 across US counties - 43 across New York counties|

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

5. watchOtsego County, NY's covered employment of 22,400 scores 73 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 38 across New York counties, a gap of 36 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 36 = |73 across US counties - 38 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.