Brunswick County, NC
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.04, -78.23.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 86th pct · 410th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 83rd pct · 17th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $273,108
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 26th pct · 2,264th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 41st pct · 59th of 100 North Carolina counties · median +1.1%
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 68th pct · 440th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 70th pct · 19th of 63 North Carolina counties · median $1,573
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 82nd pct · 573rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 77th pct · 23rd of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 63rd pct · 1,160th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 75th pct · 25th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $984
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 88th pct · 358th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 80th pct · 20th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 5.0
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $404,783 (Aug 2026), +0.6% over one year, +25.6% over five
- 86th pct · 410th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 83rd pct · 17th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $273,108
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brunswick County, NC | $404,783 · +0.6% 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 $1,734/mo (Aug 2026), +3.8% over one year; price-to-rent 19.5
- 68th pct · 440th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 70th pct · 19th of 63 North Carolina counties · median $1,573
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brunswick County, NC | $1,734/mo · +3.8% 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 $2,216 a month on $404,783 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,806 a month: 46.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $404,783 × 80% = $323,826, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,216/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,109 × 52 / 12 = $4,806) = 46% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $404,783 / ($1,109 × 52) = 7.0
- price-to-rent = $404,783 / ($1,734 × 12) = 19.5
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 #
43,665 jobs at 4,850 employers (2026 Q1); +3.6% jobs and +6.2% average weekly wage over the year
- 82nd pct · 573rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 77th pct · 23rd of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brunswick County, NC | 43,665 jobs · $1,109/wk · +3.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 6,806 | $666 | 1.60 | +3.4% |
| Accommodation and food services | 6,465 | $450 | 1.65 | +6.6% |
| Health care and social assistance | 5,319 | $1,249 | 0.81 | +5.0% |
| Construction | 3,768 | $1,285 | 1.65 | +5.0% |
| Manufacturing | 1,948 | $1,496 | 0.55 | +3.9% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,892 | $532 | 2.63 | +2.6% |
| Administrative and waste services | 1,874 | $1,208 | 0.76 | -6.9% |
| Professional and technical services | 1,619 | $2,476 | 0.54 | +3.8% |
| Other services | 1,200 | $958 | 0.92 | +8.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,038 | $1,436 | 0.62 | -1.6% |
| Utilities | 996 | $3,768 | 5.78 | +1.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 988 | $1,158 | 0.54 | -3.0% |
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 #
D2 severe drought
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 #
high (0.50)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$3.3 bn in deposits at 32 offices of 12 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,975, highly concentrated. $2.0 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.9 bn, grants $44.6 m), $46,141 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Truist Bank | $1.2 bn · 37.6% share · 8 offices | |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $384.8 m · 11.7% share · 4 offices | |
| First Bank | $379.6 m · 11.5% share · 4 offices | |
| Brunswick, NC | $2.0 bn FY2026 · $46,141/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $1.9 bn · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truist Bank | $1,236,022,000 | 37.6% | 8 |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $384,837,000 | 11.7% | 4 |
| First Bank | $379,557,000 | 11.5% | 4 |
| First National Bank of Pennsylvania | $339,123,000 | 10.3% | 3 |
| United Bank | $327,172,000 | 9.9% | 4 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $235,077,000 | 7.1% | 2 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $153,721,000 | 4.7% | 1 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $114,785,000 | 3.5% | 1 |
| SouthState Bank, National Association | $54,172,000 | 1.6% | 1 |
| TD Bank, National Association | $34,815,000 | 1.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,975 across 12 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 12 banks with deposits in the county = 37.6² + 11.7² + 11.5² + … (9 more) = 1,975
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 | $1,684,232,337 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $222,127,441 |
| Department of Transportation | $43,728,868 |
| Department of Defense | $28,015,322 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $22,429,614 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $11,656,408 |
| Department of Education | $5,934,324 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $3,000,048 |
| Department of Justice | $2,367,678 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,525,706 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $1,320,144 |
| Department of Commerce | $885,296 |
That is $46,141 per covered job, against 43,665 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $2.0 bn / 43,665 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $46,141
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 | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| 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 #
Brunswick County, NC: 7 findings, 7 noted
noteBrunswick County, NC's average weekly wage was 6.2% 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
- +6.2 % = 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
noteBrunswick County, NC's covered employment was 3.6% 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
- +3.6 % = 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
noteBrunswick County, NC's momentum index of 0.63 ranks 5th of 100 North Carolina counties, against a median of 0.25.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across 100 North Carolina counties that published momentum
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteBrunswick County, NC's momentum index of 0.63 ranks 295th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 0.23.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 91 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published momentum
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteBrunswick County, NC's covered employment of +3.6% ranks 305th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of -0.2%.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 90 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published jobs.yoy.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 7 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.