Cocke County, TN

Home values #

Typical home $245,818 (Aug 2026), +4.9% over one year, +27.6% over five

• 54th pct · 1,401st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 36th pct · 61st of 95 Tennessee counties · median $259,021

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 $1,900/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 10.8

• 78th pct · 297th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 95th pct · 3rd of 46 Tennessee counties · median $1,490

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 $1,346 a month on $245,818 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,021 a month: 33.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $245,818 × 80% = $196,654, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,346/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $928 × 52 / 12 = $4,021) = 33% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $245,818 / ($928 × 52) = 5.1
• price-to-rent = $245,818 / ($1,900 × 12) = 10.8

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 #

7,334 jobs at 566 employers (2026 Q1); -1.3% jobs and +5.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 47th pct · 1,705th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 43rd pct · 54th of 95 Tennessee counties · median 8,576

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 #

$793.0 m in deposits at 8 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,415, highly concentrated. $335.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $286.7 m, grants $48.3 m), $45,705 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,415 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 31.6² + 26.4² + 23.3² + … (2 more) = 2,415

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 #

That is $45,705 per covered job, against 7,334 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $335.2 m / 7,334 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $45,705

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 #

Cocke County, TN: 9 findings, 2 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchCocke County, TN's covered employment is -1.3% 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 = -1.3 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. watchCocke County, TN's typical asking rent rose 4.7% from $1,814 in July 2026 to $1,900 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +4.7% = (1900 - 1814.0188499763958) / 1814.0188499763958 × 100
   • 1900 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1814.0188499763958 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

3. noteCocke County, TN's average weekly wage was 5.3% 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

   • +5.3 % = 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. noteCocke County, TN's covered employment was 1.3% 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

   • -1.3 % = 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. noteCocke County, TN's price-to-rent ratio of 10.8 ranks 46th of 46 Tennessee counties, against a median of 17.9.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 46 Tennessee counties that published priceToRent
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

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

Read all 9 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.