Albemarle County, VA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.02, -78.55.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 95th pct · 148th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 91st pct · 12th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median $382,630
- 38th pct · 1,874th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 29th pct · 94th of 133 Virginia counties · median +2.9%
- 75th pct · 2nd of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median +1.7%
- 82nd pct · 250th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 67th pct · 26th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
- counties in the Charlottesville metro: only 3 of counties in the Charlottesville metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank
- 86th pct · 430th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 90th pct · 14th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median 4,636
- 90th pct · 309th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 87th pct · 18th of 133 Virginia counties · median $1,048
- 75th pct · 2nd of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median $1,165
- 90th pct · 279th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 82nd pct · 24th of 133 Virginia counties · median 5.4
- 75th pct · 2nd of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median 7.3
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 $553,487 (Aug 2026), +2.0% over one year, +26.3% over five
- 95th pct · 148th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 91st pct · 12th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median $382,630
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Albemarle County, VA | $553,487 · +2.0% 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 $1,980/mo (Aug 2026), -1.4% over one year; price-to-rent 23.3
- 82nd pct · 250th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 67th pct · 26th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
- counties in the Charlottesville metro: only 3 of counties in the Charlottesville metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Albemarle County, VA | $1,980/mo · -1.4% 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 $3,030 a month on $553,487 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,197 a month: 48.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $553,487 × 80% = $442,789, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $3,030/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,430 × 52 / 12 = $6,197) = 49% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $553,487 / ($1,430 × 52) = 7.4
- price-to-rent = $553,487 / ($1,980 × 12) = 23.3
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 #
62,813 jobs at 4,219 employers (2026 Q1); -3.5% jobs and +3.2% average weekly wage over the year
- 86th pct · 430th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 90th pct · 14th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median 4,636
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Albemarle County, VA | 62,813 jobs · $1,430/wk · -3.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 9,300 | $1,189 | 0.98 | +12.5% |
| Retail trade | 5,392 | $899 | 0.88 | -0.8% |
| Accommodation and food services | 4,325 | $565 | 0.77 | -0.4% |
| Professional and technical services | 3,735 | $2,298 | 0.86 | -8.7% |
| Manufacturing | 2,315 | $1,718 | 0.46 | -5.0% |
| Construction | 2,229 | $1,452 | 0.68 | -0.6% |
| Administrative and waste services | 2,131 | $941 | 0.60 | +3.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,833 | $667 | 1.77 | +18.9% |
| Other services | 1,789 | $1,319 | 0.95 | -4.3% |
| Management of companies | 1,228 | $2,162 | 1.17 | -2.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 1,156 | $1,331 | 1.20 | +4.7% |
| Educational services | 1,067 | $1,112 | 0.79 | -3.4% |
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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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 #
$2.9 bn in deposits at 27 offices of 15 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,362, moderately concentrated. $799.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $700.1 m, contracts $81.6 m), $12,729 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Truist Bank | $611.6 m · 20.9% share · 4 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $564.1 m · 19.3% share · 3 offices | |
| Virginia National Bank | $458.4 m · 15.7% share · 1 office | |
| Albemarle, VA | $799.6 m FY2026 · $12,729/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $689.9 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truist Bank | $611,625,000 | 20.9% | 4 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $564,051,000 | 19.3% | 3 |
| Virginia National Bank | $458,428,000 | 15.7% | 1 |
| Atlantic Union Bank | $352,058,000 | 12.0% | 2 |
| United Bank | $216,772,000 | 7.4% | 1 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $216,746,000 | 7.4% | 3 |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $145,475,000 | 5.0% | 2 |
| Blue Ridge Bank, National Association | $102,708,000 | 3.5% | 1 |
| Old Dominion National Bank | $73,441,000 | 2.5% | 1 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $64,080,000 | 2.2% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 1,362 across 15 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 15 banks with deposits in the county = 20.9² + 19.3² + 15.7² + … (12 more) = 1,362
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 | $632,953,222 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $55,772,028 |
| Department of Defense | $53,967,827 |
| General Services Administration | $18,357,433 |
| Department of Transportation | $7,950,215 |
| Department of Education | $6,803,938 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $6,484,129 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $3,259,395 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,142,799 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $2,090,690 |
| Department of the Treasury | $1,537,523 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $1,351,389 |
That is $12,729 per covered job, against 62,813 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $799.6 m / 62,813 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $12,729
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 | 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 #
Albemarle County, VA: 19 findings, 1 at an alert level, 3 at a watch level and 15 noted
alertAlbemarle County, VA's covered employment is -3.5% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- test: jobs.yoy.emp = -3.5 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchAlbemarle County, VA's covered employment is -3.5% 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 = -3.5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchAlbemarle County, VA's years of wages of 7.4 ranks 279th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; 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: yearsOfWages percentile = 90.92096668843894 >= 90
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level
watchAlbemarle County, VA's typical asking rent is -1.0% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI 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: rent.momPct = -1.0466940749186582 <= -1
- month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteAlbemarle County, VA's covered employment was 3.5% 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
- -3.5 % = 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 12 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.