Culpeper County, VA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.49, -77.96.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 93rd pct · 215th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 89th pct · 15th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 36th pct · 15th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $568,558
- 52nd pct · 1,468th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 54th pct · 61st of 133 Virginia counties · median +2.9%
- 81st pct · 5th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median +1.4%
- 81st pct · 259th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 65th pct · 28th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
- 19th pct · 18th of 22 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $2,260
- 66th pct · 1,074th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 42nd of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 22nd pct · 18th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median 38,075
- 61st pct · 1,244th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 56th pct · 59th of 133 Virginia counties · median $1,048
- 13th pct · 20th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $1,341
- 94th pct · 161st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 93rd pct · 10th of 133 Virginia counties · median 5.4
- 68th pct · 8th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median 7.1
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 $492,356 (Aug 2026), +3.1% over one year, +25.9% over five
- 93rd pct · 215th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 89th pct · 15th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 36th pct · 15th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $568,558
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Culpeper County, VA | $492,356 · +3.1% 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 $1,959/mo (Aug 2026), +6.1% over one year; price-to-rent 20.9
- 81st pct · 259th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 65th pct · 28th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
- 19th pct · 18th of 22 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median $2,260
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Culpeper County, VA | $1,959/mo · +6.1% 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 $2,695 a month on $492,356 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,745 a month: 56.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $492,356 × 80% = $393,885, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,695/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,095 × 52 / 12 = $4,745) = 57% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $492,356 / ($1,095 × 52) = 8.6
- price-to-rent = $492,356 / ($1,959 × 12) = 20.9
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 #
16,220 jobs at 1,591 employers (2026 Q1); -0.7% jobs and -1.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 66th pct · 1,074th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 42nd of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 22nd pct · 18th of 23 counties in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro · median 38,075
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Culpeper County, VA | 16,220 jobs · $1,095/wk · -0.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 2,381 | $747 | 1.51 | +1.8% |
| Health care and social assistance | 2,291 | $1,109 | 0.94 | -3.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,320 | $457 | 0.91 | +7.6% |
| Manufacturing | 1,048 | $1,429 | 0.80 | -15.3% |
| Construction | 1,038 | $1,245 | 1.22 | +0.0% |
| Other services | 963 | $943 | 1.99 | +2.4% |
| Professional and technical services | 959 | $2,050 | 0.86 | -7.6% |
| Administrative and waste services | 907 | $741 | 0.98 | -1.3% |
| Wholesale trade | 373 | $1,258 | 0.60 | +3.6% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 244 | $945 | 2.08 | +6.1% |
| Finance and insurance | 196 | $1,905 | 0.30 | -2.5% |
| Educational services | 102 | $680 | 0.29 | +6.2% |
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 #
$990.7 m in deposits at 7 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,575, highly concentrated. $336.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $327.4 m, grants $5.7 m), $20,753 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Union Bank | $348.4 m · 35.2% share · 2 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $249.5 m · 25.2% share · 1 office | |
| Truist Bank | $234.4 m · 23.7% share · 2 offices | |
| Culpeper, VA | $336.6 m FY2026 · $20,753/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $325.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Union Bank | $348,361,000 | 35.2% | 2 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $249,526,000 | 25.2% | 1 |
| Truist Bank | $234,387,000 | 23.7% | 2 |
| Oak View National Bank | $107,436,000 | 10.8% | 1 |
| Blue Ridge Bank, National Association | $50,997,000 | 5.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,575 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 = 35.2² + 25.2² + 23.7² + … (2 more) = 2,575
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 | $275,819,907 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $49,742,176 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $3,761,272 |
| Department of Transportation | $2,026,488 |
| Department of Defense | $1,877,757 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,566,891 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $879,944 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $798,684 |
| Department of Education | $109,936 |
| Department of Commerce | $101,623 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $4,943 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $20,753 per covered job, against 16,220 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $336.6 m / 16,220 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,753
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 #
Culpeper County, VA: 11 findings, 4 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchCulpeper County, VA's years of wages of 8.6 ranks 161st 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 = 94.77465708687133 >= 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
watchCulpeper County, VA's average weekly wage is -1.5% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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.avgWeeklyWage = -1.5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchCulpeper County, VA's covered employment is -0.7% 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 = -0.7 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchCulpeper County, VA's typical asking rent rose 3.8% from $1,887 in July 2026 to $1,959 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +3.8% = (1959.1833333333334 - 1886.730758963163) / 1886.730758963163 × 100
- 1959.1833333333334 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1886.730758963163 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteCulpeper County, VA's average weekly wage was 1.5% 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
- -1.5 % = 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 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.