Goochland County, VA

Home values #

Typical home $585,135 (Aug 2026), +3.7% over one year, +21.9% over five

• 96th pct · 119th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 94th pct · 8th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
• 100th pct · 1st of 17 counties in the Richmond metro · median $352,207

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 $1,904/mo (Aug 2026), -0.2% over one year; price-to-rent 25.6

• 78th pct · 296th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 58th pct · 33rd of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
• 80th pct · 3rd of 11 counties in the Richmond metro · median $1,801

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 $3,203 a month on $585,135 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $13,659 a month: 23.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $585,135 × 80% = $468,108, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $3,203/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $3,152 × 52 / 12 = $13,659) = 23% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $585,135 / ($3,152 × 52) = 3.6
• price-to-rent = $585,135 / ($1,904 × 12) = 25.6

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 #

19,302 jobs at 1,031 employers (2026 Q1); +3.9% jobs and -0.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 70th pct · 952nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 71st pct · 39th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 75th pct · 5th of 17 counties in the Richmond metro · median 9,487

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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

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 #

87 gauges · 0 flooding · 10 with quality panels averaging 98 % · 6 stale

Sites found: 87, 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 #

24 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 24, 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 (0.01)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.02 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$573.7 m in deposits at 6 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,231, highly concentrated. $279.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $268.9 m, grants $10.3 m), $14,488 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,231 across 4 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 4 banks with deposits in the county = 38.7² + 38.1² + 14.5² + … (1 more) = 3,231

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.

That is $14,488 per covered job, against 19,302 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $279.7 m / 19,302 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,488

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 #

Goochland County, VA: 19 findings, 4 at a watch level and 15 noted

1. watchGoochland County, VA's price-to-rent ratio of 25.6 ranks 76th of 1,399 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; 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: priceToRent percentile = 94.63519313304721 >= 90
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level

2. watchGoochland County, VA's typical asking rent is -2.4% 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 = -2.4195541123332975 <= -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

3. watchGoochland County, VA's price-to-rent ratio is 25.6, a watch level here: typical home value worth 25 or more years of typical rent (typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; 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: priceToRent = 25.612873138746828 >= 25
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. watchGoochland County, VA's average weekly wage is -0.4% 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 = -0.4 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

5. noteGoochland County, VA's covered employment was 3.9% 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

   • +3.9 % = 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.