Essex County, VA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 37.94, -76.93.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 69th pct · 939th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 48th pct · 69th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 45th pct · 1,667th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 40th pct · 80th of 133 Virginia counties · median +2.9%
- US counties: not published this period
- Virginia counties: not published this period
- 28th pct · 2,288th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 22nd pct · 103rd of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 26th pct · 2,350th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 21st pct · 105th of 133 Virginia counties · median $1,048
- 80th pct · 604th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 59th pct · 55th of 133 Virginia counties · median 5.4
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 $299,134 (Aug 2026), +2.6% over one year, +22.8% over five
- 69th pct · 939th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 48th pct · 69th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Essex County, VA | $299,134 · +2.6% 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
- Virginia 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 $1,637 a month on $299,134 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,069 a month: 40.2% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $299,134 × 80% = $239,307, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,637/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $939 × 52 / 12 = $4,069) = 40% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $299,134 / ($939 × 52) = 6.1
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 #
3,600 jobs at 399 employers (2026 Q1); +2.3% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 28th pct · 2,288th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 22nd pct · 103rd of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Essex County, VA | 3,600 jobs · $939/wk · +2.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 793 | $729 | 2.26 | -2.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 369 | $411 | 1.14 | +8.2% |
| Manufacturing | 278 | $949 | 0.96 | -2.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 250 | $925 | 1.22 | +15.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 207 | $1,119 | 1.50 | -3.3% |
| Other services | 134 | $780 | 1.25 | -5.6% |
| Finance and insurance | 75 | $1,720 | 0.51 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 36 | $790 | 0.24 | +12.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 31 | $745 | 0.56 | -6.1% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 24 | $688 | 0.40 | -7.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 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 #
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 #
$403.0 m in deposits at 4 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,639, highly concentrated. $91.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $87.3 m, grants $2.8 m), $25,419 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Primis Bank | $189.2 m · 46.9% share · 2 offices | |
| United Bank | $122.0 m · 30.3% share · 1 office | |
| Atlantic Union Bank | $91.8 m · 22.8% share · 1 office | |
| Essex, VA | $91.5 m FY2026 · $25,419/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $85.5 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primis Bank | $189,153,000 | 46.9% | 2 |
| United Bank | $121,980,000 | 30.3% | 1 |
| Atlantic Union Bank | $91,828,000 | 22.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,639 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 46.9² + 30.3² + 22.8² = 3,639
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 | $76,309,327 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $9,109,113 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,821,971 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $1,731,537 |
| Department of Defense | $1,140,852 |
| Department of Transportation | $1,072,364 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $284,032 |
| Department of Commerce | $37,540 |
That is $25,419 per covered job, against 3,600 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $91.5 m / 3,600 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $25,419
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 | 12.28 | 2026-10-04 | -0.1% |
| 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 #
Essex County, VA: 3 findings, 3 noted
noteEssex County, VA's average weekly wage was 4.4% 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
- +4.4 % = 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
noteEssex County, VA's covered employment was 2.3% 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
- +2.3 % = 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
noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Essex County, VA is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.