Lee County, SC
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.16, -80.25.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 10th pct · 2,736th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 11th pct · 41st of 46 South Carolina counties · median $218,959
- 3rd pct · 2,971st of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 2nd pct · 45th of 46 South Carolina counties · median +1.2%
- US counties: not published this period
- South Carolina counties: not published this period
- 28th pct · 2,293rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 6th pct · 43rd of 46 South Carolina counties · median 18,411
- 40th pct · 1,916th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 40th pct · 28th of 46 South Carolina counties · median $1,061
- 12th pct · 2,686th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 8th pct · 42nd of 46 South Carolina counties · median 4.1
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 $135,567 (Aug 2026), -6.7% over one year, -17.5% over five
- 10th pct · 2,736th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 11th pct · 41st of 46 South Carolina counties · median $218,959
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lee County, SC | $135,567 · -6.7% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- South Carolina counties: not published this period
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 $742 a month on $135,567 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,320 a month: 17.2% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $135,567 × 80% = $108,453, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $742/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $997 × 52 / 12 = $4,320) = 17% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $135,567 / ($997 × 52) = 2.6
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 #
3,581 jobs at 297 employers (2026 Q1); +0.6% jobs and +4.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 28th pct · 2,293rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 6th pct · 43rd of 46 South Carolina counties · median 18,411
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lee County, SC | 3,581 jobs · $997/wk · +0.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 640 | $1,170 | 1.19 | +0.0% |
| Manufacturing | 469 | $1,579 | 1.63 | +3.5% |
| Retail trade | 446 | $570 | 1.28 | +5.4% |
| Other services | 198 | $698 | 1.85 | -6.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 196 | $340 | 0.61 | -10.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 138 | $1,155 | 0.91 | +0.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 134 | $1,128 | 0.66 | -2.9% |
| Educational services | 119 | $610 | 1.54 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 104 | $1,159 | 0.76 | -18.1% |
| Professional and technical services | 76 | $1,016 | 0.31 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 53 | $1,415 | 0.36 | -5.4% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld |
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 #
D1 moderate 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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$171.7 m in deposits at 4 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,084, highly concentrated. $113.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $114.3 m, contracts $57,216), $31,729 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pinnacle Bank | $97.5 m · 56.8% share · 1 office | |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $46.2 m · 26.9% share · 1 office | |
| First Palmetto Bank | $16.4 m · 9.6% share · 1 office | |
| Lee, SC | $113.6 m FY2026 · $31,729/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $108.2 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinnacle Bank | $97,481,000 | 56.8% | 1 |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $46,219,000 | 26.9% | 1 |
| First Palmetto Bank | $16,415,000 | 9.6% | 1 |
| The Citizens Bank | $11,606,000 | 6.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 4,084 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 = 56.8² + 26.9² + 9.6² + … (1 more) = 4,084
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 | $94,589,410 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $13,517,901 |
| Department of Agriculture | $5,605,216 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $524,433 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $208,026 |
| Department of Transportation | -$824,878 |
That is $31,729 per covered job, against 3,581 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $113.6 m / 3,581 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $31,729
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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| 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 #
Lee County, SC: 11 findings, 1 at an alert level, 2 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertLee County, SC's typical home value is -6.7% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -6.730778757116266 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchLee County, SC's typical home value is -6.7% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -6.730778757116266 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchLee County, SC's typical home value is -2.1% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical home value at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZHVI 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: home.momPct = -2.0740680454781066 <= -1
- month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
arithmetic on the Zillow ZHVI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteLee County, SC's average weekly wage was 4.0% 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
- +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
noteLee County, SC's typical home value fell 2.1% from $138,438 in July 2026 to $135,567 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -2.1% = (135566.73944878302 - 138438.0385695405) / 138438.0385695405 × 100
- 135566.73944878302 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 138438.0385695405 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
Read all 11 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.