James City County, VA

Home values #

Typical home $482,692 (Aug 2026), +1.6% over one year, +28.5% over five

• 92nd pct · 230th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 87th pct · 18th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
• 94th pct · 2nd of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $389,478

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 $2,202/mo (Aug 2026), +6.0% over one year; price-to-rent 18.3

• 89th pct · 142nd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 85th pct · 12th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
• 91st pct · 2nd of 13 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $2,064

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 $2,642 a month on $482,692 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,723 a month: 55.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $482,692 × 80% = $386,154, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,642/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,090 × 52 / 12 = $4,723) = 56% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $482,692 / ($1,090 × 52) = 8.5
• price-to-rent = $482,692 / ($2,202 × 12) = 18.3

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 #

29,705 jobs at 2,309 employers (2026 Q1); -0.4% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 77th pct · 725th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 78th pct · 29th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 58th pct · 8th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median 18,007

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 #

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 #

44 gauges · 0 flooding · 17 with quality panels averaging 99 % · 8 stale

Sites found: 44, 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 #

202 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 202, 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 + 0.2×0.01 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$2.3 bn in deposits at 15 offices of 9 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,810, highly concentrated. $863.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $820.5 m, grants $21.4 m), $29,078 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,810 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 30.6² + 18.9² + 14.4² + … (6 more) = 1,810

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 $29,078 per covered job, against 29,705 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $863.8 m / 29,705 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $29,078

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 #

James City County, VA: 11 findings, 2 at a watch level and 9 noted

1. watchJames City County, VA's years of wages of 8.5 ranks 174th 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 = 94.35009797517962 >= 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

2. watchJames City County, VA's covered employment is -0.4% 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 = -0.4 < 0

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

3. noteJames City 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

4. noteJames City County, VA's typical asking rent rose 1.0% from $2,179 in July 2026 to $2,202 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +1.0% = (2201.585419411506 - 2179.0248415051624) / 2179.0248415051624 × 100
   • 2201.585419411506 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 2179.0248415051624 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

5. noteJames City County, VA's covered employment was 0.4% 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

   • -0.4 % = 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

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.