Rockland County, NY

Home values #

Typical home $766,355 (Aug 2026), +4.9% over one year, +39.1% over five

• 98th pct · 52nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 93rd pct · 5th of 62 New York counties · median $256,722
• 71st pct · 7th 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 $3,048/mo (Aug 2026), +5.4% over one year; price-to-rent 21.0

• 97th pct · 29th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 87th pct · 7th of 49 New York counties · median $1,531
• 66th pct · 8th 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 $4,195 a month on $766,355 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,833 a month: 71.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $766,355 × 80% = $613,084, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $4,195/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,346 × 52 / 12 = $5,833) = 72% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $766,355 / ($1,346 × 52) = 10.9
• price-to-rent = $766,355 / ($3,048 × 12) = 21.0

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 #

136,771 jobs at 12,826 employers (2026 Q1); -4.1% jobs and +3.6% average weekly wage over the year

• 92nd pct · 233rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 78th pct · 14th of 62 New York counties · median 32,139
• 14th pct · 19th 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 #

6 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 6, 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 #

210 gauges · 0 flooding · 62 with quality panels averaging 89 % · 71 stale

Sites found: 210, 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 #

249 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 249, 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 (0.04)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.11 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$13.1 bn in deposits at 67 offices of 14 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,981, highly concentrated. $163.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (grants $93.0 m, contracts $70.0 m), $1,192 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,981 across 14 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 14 banks with deposits in the county = 37.9² + 15.7² + 10.5² + … (11 more) = 1,981

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 $1,192 per covered job, against 136,771 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $163.1 m / 136,771 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $1,192

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 #

Rockland County, NY: 18 findings, 1 at an alert level, 4 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. alertRockland County, NY's covered employment is -4.1% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.emp = -4.1 <= -3

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchRockland County, NY's years of wages of 10.9 ranks 56th 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 = 98.20378837361203 >= 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. watchRockland County, NY's covered employment is -4.1% 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 = -4.1 < 0

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

4. watchRockland County, NY's years of wages is 10.9, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; 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: yearsOfWages = 10.949173431162684 >= 10
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

5. watchRockland County, NY's typical home value of +4.9% scores 71 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 30 across New York counties, a gap of 41 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 41 = |71 across US counties - 30 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.