Clay County, TN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 36.55, -85.55.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 42nd pct · 1,760th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 24th pct · 72nd of 95 Tennessee counties · median $259,021
- 86th pct · 402nd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 86th pct · 14th of 95 Tennessee counties · median +3.2%
- US counties: not published this period
- Tennessee counties: not published this period
- 10th pct · 2,893rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 3rd pct · 92nd of 95 Tennessee counties · median 8,576
- 7th pct · 2,987th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 4th pct · 91st of 95 Tennessee counties · median $1,030
- 66th pct · 1,026th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 54th pct · 44th of 95 Tennessee counties · median 5.0
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 $215,638 (Aug 2026), +7.2% over one year, +36.9% over five
- 42nd pct · 1,760th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 24th pct · 72nd of 95 Tennessee counties · median $259,021
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Clay County, TN | $215,638 · +7.2% 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
- Tennessee 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 $1,180 a month on $215,638 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,501 a month: 33.7% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $215,638 × 80% = $172,510, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,180/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $808 × 52 / 12 = $3,501) = 34% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $215,638 / ($808 × 52) = 5.1
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 #
1,395 jobs at 148 employers (2026 Q1); +3.1% jobs and +5.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 10th pct · 2,893rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 3rd pct · 92nd of 95 Tennessee counties · median 8,576
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Clay County, TN | 1,395 jobs · $808/wk · +3.1% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 199 | $846 | 1.77 | -3.9% |
| Retail trade | 158 | $488 | 1.16 | -3.1% |
| Accommodation and food services | 120 | $332 | 0.96 | -3.2% |
| Health care and social assistance | 101 | $719 | 0.48 | +8.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 62 | $589 | 2.70 | -7.5% |
| Administrative and waste services | 50 | $887 | 0.63 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 33 | $2,381 | 0.62 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 23 | $976 | 0.40 | -4.2% |
| Real estate and rental | 13 | $314 | 0.61 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | 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 #
$154.8 m in deposits at 2 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,087, highly concentrated. $58.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $56.2 m, contracts $1.5 m), $42,040 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wellworth Bank | $87.6 m · 56.6% share · 1 office | |
| Macon Bank and Trust Company | $67.2 m · 43.4% share · 1 office | |
| Clay, TN | $58.6 m FY2026 · $42,040/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $52.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellworth Bank | $87,585,000 | 56.6% | 1 |
| Macon Bank and Trust Company | $67,188,000 | 43.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,087 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 56.6² + 43.4² = 5,087
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 | $47,192,757 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $4,851,554 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,880,326 |
| Department of Defense | $1,076,800 |
| Department of Transportation | $585,449 |
| Department of the Interior | $380,517 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $286,572 |
| Department of Justice | $216,750 |
| Department of Education | $96,683 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $78,335 |
That is $42,040 per covered job, against 1,395 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $58.6 m / 1,395 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $42,040
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 | 3.00 | 2026-10-06 | -50.0% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| 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 #
Clay County, TN: 11 findings, 11 noted
noteClay County, TN's average weekly wage was 5.1% 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
- +5.1 % = 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
noteClay County, TN's covered employment was 3.1% 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
- +3.1 % = 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
noteClay County, TN's typical home value fell 0.6% from $216,868 in July 2026 to $215,638 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -0.6% = (215638.0568943921 - 216868.00557752757) / 216868.00557752757 × 100
- 215638.0568943921 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 216868.00557752757 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
noteClay County, TN's momentum index of 0.86 ranks 53rd of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 0.23.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 98 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
noteClay County, TN's covered employment of 1,395 ranks 92nd of 95 Tennessee counties, against a median of 8,576.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 3 on the 0-to-100 scale across 95 Tennessee counties that published jobs.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
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.