Wayne County, NY

Home values #

Typical home $256,174 (Aug 2026), +6.1% over one year, +39.0% over five

• 57th pct · 1,295th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 45th pct · 34th of 62 New York counties · median $256,722
• 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Rochester metro · median $256,174

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 $1,283/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 16.6

• 29th pct · 990th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 22nd pct · 38th of 49 New York counties · median $1,531
• 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the Rochester metro · 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 $1,402 a month on $256,174 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,209 a month: 26.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $256,174 × 80% = $204,940, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,402/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,202 × 52 / 12 = $5,209) = 27% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $256,174 / ($1,202 × 52) = 4.1
• price-to-rent = $256,174 / ($1,283 × 12) = 16.6

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 #

28,308 jobs at 2,115 employers (2026 Q1); +1.4% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year

• 76th pct · 749th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 44th pct · 35th of 62 New York counties · median 32,139
• 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Rochester metro · median 28,308

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 #

D0 abnormally dry

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 #

$1.3 bn in deposits at 14 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,620, highly concentrated. $663.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $626.8 m, contracts $25.9 m), $23,433 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 4,620 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 = 65.6² + 14.6² + 6.7² + … (4 more) = 4,620

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 $23,433 per covered job, against 28,308 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $663.4 m / 28,308 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $23,433

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 #

Wayne County, NY: 8 findings, 2 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchWayne County, NY's average weekly wage of $1,202 scores 76 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 38 across New York counties, a gap of 39 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 39 = |76 across US counties - 38 across New York counties|

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

2. watchWayne County, NY's covered employment of 28,308 scores 77 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 44 across New York counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |77 across US counties - 44 across New York counties|

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

3. noteWayne County, NY's average weekly wage was 2.5% 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

   • +2.5 % = 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

4. noteWayne County, NY's covered employment was 1.4% 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

   • +1.4 % = 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. noteWayne County, NY's typical asking rent rose 0.9% from $1,271 in July 2026 to $1,283 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.9% = (1282.5 - 1271.0136458671864) / 1271.0136458671864 × 100
   • 1282.5 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1271.0136458671864 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

Read all 8 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.