Blair County, PA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 40.50, -78.31.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 25th pct · 2,268th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 27th pct · 49th of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median $233,681
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 84th pct · 467th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 90th pct · 7th of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median +3.4%
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 10th pct · 1,254th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 27th pct · 35th of 48 Pennsylvania counties · median $1,349
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 85th pct · 466th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 22nd of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median 27,809
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 58th pct · 1,321st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 42nd pct · 39th of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median $1,102
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 22nd pct · 2,370th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 33rd pct · 45th of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median 3.8
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona 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 $175,423 (Aug 2026), +6.8% over one year, +16.2% over five
- 25th pct · 2,268th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 27th pct · 49th of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median $233,681
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Blair County, PA | $175,423 · +6.8% 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 $1,033/mo (Aug 2026), +8.6% over one year; price-to-rent 14.2
- 10th pct · 1,254th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 27th pct · 35th of 48 Pennsylvania counties · median $1,349
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Blair County, PA | $1,033/mo · +8.6% 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 $960 a month on $175,423 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,689 a month: 20.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $175,423 × 80% = $140,338, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $960/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,082 × 52 / 12 = $4,689) = 20% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $175,423 / ($1,082 × 52) = 3.1
- price-to-rent = $175,423 / ($1,033 × 12) = 14.2
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 #
57,035 jobs at 3,497 employers (2026 Q1); -1.4% jobs and +2.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 85th pct · 466th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 22nd of 67 Pennsylvania counties · median 27,809
- counties in the Altoona metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Altoona metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Blair County, PA | 57,035 jobs · $1,082/wk · -1.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 11,603 | $1,140 | 1.35 | -0.4% |
| Retail trade | 7,768 | $697 | 1.40 | -1.7% |
| Manufacturing | 7,361 | $1,264 | 1.60 | +1.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 4,550 | $382 | 0.89 | -3.7% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 3,336 | $1,265 | 1.39 | -9.5% |
| Construction | 2,542 | $1,226 | 0.85 | -4.9% |
| Other services | 2,096 | $640 | 1.23 | +2.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 1,883 | $1,337 | 0.48 | +2.8% |
| Administrative and waste services | 1,671 | $858 | 0.52 | -2.5% |
| Management of companies | 1,323 | $2,294 | 1.39 | +7.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 861 | $1,954 | 0.37 | -3.7% |
| Information | 625 | $1,254 | 0.59 | -4.3% |
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 #
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 #
$4.1 bn in deposits at 46 offices of 16 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,739, moderately concentrated. $955.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $856.6 m, grants $58.2 m), $16,752 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | $1.3 bn · 31.9% share · 6 offices | |
| First National Bank of Pennsylvania | $805.6 m · 19.8% share · 6 offices | |
| First Commonwealth Bank | $476.9 m · 11.7% share · 5 offices | |
| Blair, PA | $955.5 m FY2026 · $16,752/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $828.4 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | $1,299,312,000 | 31.9% | 6 |
| First National Bank of Pennsylvania | $805,594,000 | 19.8% | 6 |
| First Commonwealth Bank | $476,876,000 | 11.7% | 5 |
| Reliance Savings Bank | $422,315,000 | 10.4% | 7 |
| Citizens Bank, National Association | $226,573,000 | 5.6% | 3 |
| Altoona First Savings Bank | $194,249,000 | 4.8% | 3 |
| S&T Bank | $133,461,000 | 3.3% | 1 |
| Kish Bank | $88,691,000 | 2.2% | 1 |
| PennCrest Bank | $87,350,000 | 2.1% | 4 |
| 1st Summit Bank | $85,374,000 | 2.1% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 1,739 across 16 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 16 banks with deposits in the county = 31.9² + 19.8² + 11.7² + … (13 more) = 1,739
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 | $676,641,228 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $149,589,428 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $55,956,142 |
| Department of Transportation | $39,108,141 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $19,991,046 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $5,060,962 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,613,225 |
| Department of Education | $1,940,157 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $1,842,620 |
| Department of Defense | $1,549,868 |
| Department of Commerce | $545,362 |
| Department of the Interior | $375,907 |
That is $16,752 per covered job, against 57,035 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $955.5 m / 57,035 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $16,752
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 #
Blair County, PA: 8 findings, 2 at a watch level and 6 noted
watchBlair County, PA's covered employment is -1.4% 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 = -1.4 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchBlair County, PA's typical asking rent is +8.6% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 8 percent above a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; 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.yoyPct = 8.63240701526812 >= 8
arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteBlair County, PA's average weekly wage was 2.6% 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
- +2.6 % = 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
noteBlair County, PA's typical asking rent rose 1.7% from $1,016 in July 2026 to $1,033 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +1.7% = (1033.020202020202 - 1016.2439097923626) / 1016.2439097923626 × 100
- 1033.020202020202 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1016.2439097923626 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteBlair County, PA's covered employment was 1.4% lower 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
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.